The Chosen One: A Reylo Story
by Chridder
Summary: What if your worst enemy could appear before you without warning? The bond between Rey and Kylo Ren is growing and it's dangerous. Yet the Force seems to make a point of bringing them together at their most vulnerable moments. Why expose mortal enemies to each other's weaknesses? Post TLJ Star Wars story; Rated T except one chapter with an edited version posted. Complete.
1. Chapter1: Mission to an Abandoned Planet

Mission to an Abandoned Planet

The smell… the smell was the worst part.

Putrid, like the insides of a jubba left to rot on the hot sands of Jakku, invading her senses, weakening her focus…

Rey breathes in sharply, holding it for a moment before releasing. She can't allow herself to be distracted.

She walks carefully along the damp, uneven ground, her arm extended and her hand stretched open just an inch from the curved, wet surface of the cave walls. Everything around her is shrouded in darkness, but it does not matter to Rey. Her eyes are closed. Her mind is calm. She relaxes her shoulders and lets her head tilt back slightly, feeling The Force course through her…

She moves carefully. One foot forward, and then the next, with her outstretched hand still hovering an inch from the thick, layered rock of the wall.

It's close. She can sense it.

She continues forward methodically, one step at a time. She is determined to find it—she cannot fail. If another artifact falls into the hands of the Knights of Ren…

The Resistance, broken and bereft of allies, had not discovered what the Knights were up to until it was nearly too late. For the past several years, they'd been scouring the galaxy for the most powerful Sith artifacts known to exist, only to hoard them in the First Order archives. But to what end…?

The question has loomed ominously over Resistance leaders since they received the intel. General Leia warned Rey that these artifacts were infused with centuries of dark power and could enhance one's ability to use the Force in a variety of unsettling ways. It's even suspected that some can be used to commune with the Dark Lords who created them. The possibilities are disquieting…

When Rey's struggling to fall sleep at night, she can't stop the question from gnawing at her… _Why does he want them so desperately?_

"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to," the low voice intones in her head. For just a moment, she can see the image so clearly. Gloved hand extending, dark eyes fixed on hers… unwavering… pleading…

She hangs her head instinctively. For a moment, a complex wave of emotions washes over her. Then, her head snaps up. She takes another deep breath and exhales slowly. She must clear her mind and focus on the task at hand.

She steps forward. Then again, and again. With each step, her foot sinks slightly into the cave's muddied floors. The scent of rot lies thick in the air. The cold wind whips through the cave's winding corridors. But Rey feels none of this. She only feels the Force…and through the Force, she senses it… buried deep in the walls, crying out to her like a lost and frightened child.

She takes another step, then stops. Her eyes are still closed; her mind still calm.

It's here.

She adjusts her body to face the wall directly. Her palm tingles as she senses the power of the artifact calling. The wall is hard and thick.

Rey stands, light and unmoving. She senses it all around her, expanding infinitely. The rhythm and hum of life and death, gain and loss, joy and sorrow. She opens herself to the Force, allowing it to flow through her. The artifact reaches out to her through the depths. She hears the faint echoes of screaming in her mind. She channels the Force to tease the artifact towards her, inch by inch. As she does, the screams grow louder, hollow and reverberating.

Closer. _Closer_. _Closer she draws it to her._

Rey snaps back suddenly. The sound of a small avalanche of rocks hitting the cave floor behind her jerks her out of her trance.

Something screeches in the distance. Is it the artifact? Is it just in her mind?

She turns back to the wall, closing her eyes. She hears the screams in her head again. They sound like the screams of children. A chorus of screams, growing louder and louder as the artifact draws nearer.

Rey begins shaking violently. Her whole body, from her outstretched hand, her extended arm, her head, her shoulders, her very core. She can feel their pain ripping through her, crippling her...

The artifact begins to slow down.

She breathes deeply and tries to reconnect with the thrum of energy around her. But she can only feel the rising panic of the screams… Suddenly, her body grows cold as the Dark power of the artifact surges through her, pushing her back from the wall.

" _ **No**_ _._ " The words barely escape her mouth in a whisper.

Determined, she steps forward, straightening her arm. She concentrates on this intruding coldness. Gradually, the cold grows warm, as though a spark ignited in her chest and began to blaze upwards, into her neck, her face, her skin. And suddenly she feels in control. She feels strong.

The artifact continues along its course; the screams roar in her ears as it does, and yet she feels strangely steady as the fire burns hot within her. Suddenly, the artifact bursts through the stone directly into her hand. It is a large crystal, pulsating with a deep red light, cool to the touch. The moment it reaches her fingers, the screams die away.

For just a moment, everything is still as Rey stares transfixed at the crystal.

Then she hears it. The screeches. And not in the distance.

Rey turns towards the sound, and in an instant her body freezes in fear.

Creatures… she cannot see them well in this darkness, but she can vaguely make out the shape of them as a herd charges towards her at full speed, snarling.

In one motion, she shoves the crystal in her pouch and takes off in the opposite direction. She jets out of the narrow corridor into a wider expanse of the cave, her heart pounding in her chest. A faint stream of light from high above the cavern's depths casts shadows on the rocky, uneven earth before her.

"Don't look back. Don't look back, Rey," she thinks to herself. "There is only one way—forward."

The creatures shriek and snarl behind her. She can hear the heavy, pounding sound of their claws on the ground getting closer, closer…

Feeling the Force well within her, she leaps up and pivots one foot off the wall to the right, then the other off the wall to the left, landing with both feet onto a smooth, higher level of the cave.

The creatures follow her. She can see them better now. They are the size of zillo beasts, four-legged with matted brown fur, hunched backs, and large pointed heads with two pairs of fangs the size of knives shooting both downwards and upwards out of their mouths. They leap nimbly, following the same path as Rey, claws digging into the rocky cavern walls as they hop from one side to the other, then up to her.

She runs with every ounce of energy she can muster. Panting heavily, she turns sharply down another dark, narrow corridor.

The creatures are still close on her heels, and now it's pitch black. Rey runs with her eyes closed, allowing the Force to guide her through the darkness. She emerges out of the corridor into the faint light once more.

A wall. Just ahead. Tall, impossibly tall, and made of a smooth, black surface unlike the rocky, earthy walls below.

They won't be able to sink their claws into it.

As it draws closer, she focuses. They are right on her heels now. She can feel their hot breath on her skin.

When the moment arrives, it's as though time slows down around her. She closes her eyes and concentrates on the power of the Force rising in her core. She bends her legs then propels herself upwards, high… higher than any average humanoid can leap.

But not high enough.

Her right hand catches a slight indention in the wall. She hangs on, swinging precariously above the creatures who jump up, snapping at her feet. They are just out of her reach. She flings her left hand upwards, catching another indention in the wall. As she prepares to pull herself up, all at once, a sharp pain explodes in her thigh and a heavy weight drags her downwards.

Rey lets out an anguished roar and without thinking, immediately releases her left hand and turns an open palm to the beast. A wave of power knocks it back to the ground with a thud. The fang lodged in Rey's thigh snaps off.

Quickly, she turns back to the wall, pulling herself upwards with both arms and her right leg. Her left leg dangles like dead weight, throbbing. She tries to ignore the pain until she feels herself crawl over the edge of the wall onto the wet stone above.

She lets out a great exhale and lies flat on her back, panting. She listens to the screeches of the creatures as they slowly die down, die away… She is still in the cave. She can see the faint light of the planet's suns above her, closer now than before, but still just a small ray of hope towering high in the distance.

The next wall she must climb is ten times higher. And now she's injured.

Rey carefully sits up to inspect her leg. The fang is still lodged in her thigh, long enough for a sharp end to poke out of each side.

She grabs the base of the fang and pulls. She lets out a guttural groan as it slides slowly out of her. Her leg begins gushing blood. She quickly takes off her jacket and ties it tightly around her wound.

She's slowed the bleeding for now. But she does not have long. She can feel it. The creature's fang pierced something vital… she doesn't know how long she has before she bleeds out on the floor of this cave.

She reaches into her pouch for her commlink. She must contact Poe. He'll come for her. She feels around in the pouch for a few moments, but to her panic, feels nothing but a water canteen, a few quarter portions and the crystal. No commlink.

Suddenly, she sees it in her mind's eye—in pieces on the cavern floor below.

Her head hangs down and her shoulders drop. She lets out a slow sigh and looks upwards. The wall looms high, towering above her. A grim but determined look registers on her face. She knows what she has to do.

She will not be defeated.

Rey drags herself over to the wall, rocks scraping against her bare arms, and begins hoisting herself upright by hooking her hands into small indentions along the surface. She stands on one leg now. She looks briefly down and then up again. The ray of light gleams faintly above.

Very, very carefully, she lets a little of her weight fall to her left leg. She winces and hisses in pain. Quickly, she pulls her body weight off the ground by planting her right leg in the wall and thrusting upwards. Her left leg dangles freely as she begins pulling herself up with her arms and good leg. Slowly, methodically… she cannot misstep.

Her progress is steady. She does not once look down, and yet she can sense that she is just over ten feet off the ground. She keeps her eyes trained on the ray of light whenever she can. She has a much longer way to go.

She continues upward, silently except for her breath and the occasional muted grunt of pain.

She extends her right hand and clasps another indention. She feels it… too late. The sweat of her palms slipping against the smooth surface. She loses her grip and the dead weight of her injured leg pulls her down, causing the other hand to slip.

Rey crashes to the cavern floor with a violent crack. She howls in pain, turning carefully to her right. Tears are streaming down her face as she drags her broken body back to the wall. When she gets there, she turns and lets her back rest against it. She unwraps her pouch from her waist and lays it to the side. Her injured leg is throbbing and stretched out before her. Her good leg is bent, with her forehead resting gently on it.

She still feels the blood slowly seeping from her wound. Now her whole body is aching from the fall. Exhaustion overtakes her, energy completely spent. Then the realization hits her, and when it does, she can barely breathe.

She is going to die here… right here… bleeding out in this cold, dark place, utterly alone… this is how her story will end.

She leans forward, breathing heavily… and lets out a sob. She tries to take a deep breath, but another sob escapes. Finally, she gives in as sobs violently wrack her body.

There… just for a minute, in the depths of a cave on an abandoned planet in the outer reaches of the galaxy, Rey gives up.

She feels her failure bitterly. Her body collapses on the cave floor, and she crawls forward, still shaking with sobs. She places her palms on the earth and presses upwards, pulling herself to her knees with her weight on the right. Facing the earth, she rests her forearms on the damp ground and releases her forehead to rest between them, as if she's in prayer.

Tears streaming down her face, she squeezes her eyes shut and cries.

Then, without warning, she feels it. Creeping in like an unwelcome memory…

"No," she whispers softly, shaking her head.

"No, not now. Please…," she whimpers.

The feeling grows stronger. Rey keeps squeezing her eyes shut, keeps shaking her head. She rocks gently forward and back. She tries to concentrate… to block him out…

"No… please. Not now, _No!_ "

Suddenly, her eyes snap open as soft sobs escape her. With her forehead still pressed to the ground, she leans into her forearms, trembling. She senses his presence.

She does not look up, so she cannot see him, his dark figure standing tall and staring silently over her shivering form.

Her breathing shallow and labored, she says quietly but firmly, "Go. Away."

Seconds pass… She tries to compose herself, to steady her breathing, to calm her shaking body. The cave is eerily silent. She still feels him watching her.

" _GO AWAY_!" She sobs loudly, tears streaming down her face. She can't bring herself to look up at him.

"Please… _please_ … just go away."

She begins to slowly crawl backwards away from him towards the wall. He still watches her. Silently.

She stops and lets out a gasp, falling to her side. Her breathing is uneven. She can't seem to get enough oxygen. For a moment, she hears nothing but the sound of her sharp, short inhales. Then, she hears the click of his boots on the cavern floor walking towards her.

He stops right next to her, just at the wall. He pauses, then he slowly kneels down and sits next to her, resting back on the cave.

Rey stares at the ground, focusing on the sound of her own breath… and his. She's unsure what to do. She can't seem to make herself move. She still can't look at him.

She feels his hand reach out… tentatively… then rest on her shoulder. He grips her skin softly, slipping his other hand underneath the crook of her arm on the opposite side and pulls her towards him.

His feet are planted on either side of her, legs bent, as he brings her body into his chest. They've never done more than touch fingertips through their Force bond. She didn't even know this was possible…

She feels the warmth of his body envelop her as his arms wrap tightly but gently around her, pressing the right side of her body firmly against his. Her head rests in the middle of his chest, tucked just under his chin. He cradles the back of her head with his hand.

She curls into him and, once again, lets herself sob, trembling against him, tears flowing damp on his black uniform. As he squeezes her tightly, her trembles gradually die down. She rests against him, surrendering completely, and stops thinking about anything else except for this feeling of tenderness and belonging. She wants to hang on to this moment for as long as she can…

Eventually, her tears stop and her breathing begins to steady. She still rests her body on his chest, and rolls her forehead towards the center. His arms are still wrapped around her. They feel each other breathing softly, soon in synchronicity.

Though their Force bond, he can feel her pain… her despair… her fear of failure… of death. He also feels how at peace she is in his arms, content to melt into him, to escape into his warm body and deep breathing.

She can feel his conflict… that gnawing paranoia and lack of resolution raging just beneath the skin… his regret… his longing. She feels how much he wants this, how desperate he is for tenderness, for intimate human connection.

He holds her close and she lets him… for how long, neither of them know.

Her eyes are closed. She doesn't feel the pain in her leg anymore… only the comfort of his warmth.

"Where are you?" His deep voice intones quietly.

In an instant, Rey snaps back to reality. She jerks away from him suddenly, scooting her body back away from his. Finally, she brings herself to look him in the eye.

This has always been dangerous for her. Since the first time he removed his helmet in the interrogation room on Starkiller Base, she's had difficulty looking past the humanity brimming in his eyes… his irresolution… his… instinct for compassion? How can that be?

He gazes at her steadily, unblinking. Sitting upright with his legs still spread wide, he scoots his lower back to the wall and leans forwards with an elbow resting on his knee. His gaze intensifies. He repeats his question.

"Where are you?" His tone is soft, but firm.

"I'm sure you'd love to know," she says defiantly, staring intently back at him.

For a moment, her mind wonders to the crystal in her pouch. It's only a few feet away from him. She quickly tries to regain control over her thoughts. Their Force bond… If she knows it, he'll know it… Or maybe it doesn't matter? If this artifact is truly so powerful, can't he sense that it's here, this precious thing he and his Knights are so intent on finding?

If he knows the artifact is here, he doesn't let on.

He never breaks eye contact. He leans forward a bit more, placing a hand under her elbow and another at her waist, pulling her back towards him. Her body presses against him. He brings his lips close to her ear. Her heart is pounding. So is his.

"You know I would come for you." His breath tickles her skin.

"I know," she answers in a whisper.

She still feels his hot breath on her neck. Her emotions well up and wash over her. A few more drops of tears escape her. She looks up, locking eyes with him briefly, then looks away, shaking her head. She's done asking this man the question "Why?"

She begins scooting away from him again, but again he reaches out and pulls her closer. He brings her body back to his chest and turns her right side downwards. Then, he takes a hand under her left knee and gently bends her thigh towards his chest.

Rey winces a little in pain. She places a hand on his chest to steady herself and looks up at him with uncertainty.

He removes the thick black glove from his right hand and places it carefully next to him. He extends his hand towards the wound on her leg and stretches his fingers apart, hovering lightly.

He stares intently… not at her, but at her wound. As the Force flows through him, she feels it flow through her. It's as though, through the Force bond, she amplifies his powers and he amplifies hers.

At first, she feels nothing. Then… something.

The tissues in her leg. She feels them re-forming… mending… healing…

He still stares intently at her wound, his hand hovering above it, rebuilding her body.

Finally, once she feels whole, he brings his hand back and reaches for his glove. Rey sits up and stares at him silently as he puts it back on. He looks up at her. Their eyes lock. She stares inquisitively into those deep, black wells… and immediately she feels what he feels in that moment. He is vulnerable now. He can't hide it. Not from her.

He doesn't have to say it. Neither does she. They feel it together through the Force bond.

"Don't be afraid. I feel it too," the memory of his voice echoes in the back of her mind.

Their eyes linger on one another.

She blinks. Or maybe he does. Either way, in a moment he is gone, just as quickly as he appeared.

Rey stares blankly at the cave wall. All is silent except for the sound of her breath. For a few minutes, she sits on the damp floor in silence, staring into darkness.

Then, she slowly rises and stands straight, facing the wall. She stoops over to grab her pouch, briefly opening it to be sure the crystal is still there.

It is.

She wraps the strap around her waist and plants her feet firmly. She draws her shoulders back and down. She gazes up at the ray of light streaming onto her face from above. Once again, she begins the climb.

It goes much more quickly this time. Rey reaches out to an indention in the wall with one hand, then the other hand, then a foot, then the other foot…

She ascends swiftly, drawing nearer and nearer to the light. As she climbs, a thousand questions race through her head…

 _The Force can be used to heal?_

 _Has it ever been done before?_

 _Could Master Skywalker do it?_

 _Could she do it?_

 _Can the Force be used to stop death itself?_

 _Can the Force bring someone back to life?_

She moves upwards with strength and purpose. As she mulls over these questions, she finds no settled answers. Only more questions.

As her hand grips the top of the cave wall, Rey pulls herself up into the sunlight. Relieved, she lies flat on her back, with her face turned up towards the sky. She closes her eyes, and breathes a sigh. She takes a moment to feel how good it is to be alive. To be whole.

Then she stands up and begins striding confidently onwards, taking in her surroundings, remembering where she landed the Falcon.

As she walks, the questions still reverberate in her mind. There is only one thing she knows for certain.

Healing… that's not an ability that derives from the Dark Side of the Force. The Dark Side draws from emotions like anger, pain, aggression, and hatred. What Ben did… that was done out of love.

 **NOTE TO READERS:**

 **Thank you for reading chapter 1 of my story!**

 **Before deciding if you want to continue reading, I want to give readers a brief warning. Though I try to keep this story relatively close to Star Wars Cannon and Legends, I also take some significant liberties with the Star Wars universe for creative purposes, especially when it comes to Rey and Ben's Force bond, certain Force abilities like healing, the Sith artifacts, Snoke's master plan, Ben's ulterior motives, etc. If you are a casual Star Wars fan, I don't think I deviate so much from the universe that it will ruin the story. But if you are a diehard Star Wars fan that tends to be nitpicky, some things will probably annoy you (but hopefully not too much).**


	2. Chapter 2: Delusions of Grandeur

Delusions of Grandeur

"Shhhhhh…. my Love. Don't be afraid."

She strokes his hair back as she cradles him in her arms. Rays of light stream through the brown tendrils of hair framing her cheeks, a thick crown of braids atop her head. Her sweet smile spreads slowly across her face.

"Close your eyes," she commands softly. "Close your eyes and breathe." Sitting down, she adjusts his small body in her arms so his back presses against her chest. She wraps her arms around him and rests her chin on his head. "Breathe with me," she coos. "Breathe with me, son."

His panicked, uneven breathing begins to synchronize with hers, slow and steady.

"Concentrate," she whispers in his ear. "Concentrate on what you feel." He does. He concentrates on the warm peaceful glow pulsing gently inside of him, like a second heartbeat.

"Do you feel it?" She whispers. "Do you feel how much I love you?"

Kylo Ren's eyes open. The room is pitch black. The matt hard and cold against his bare back. He hears the low, mechanical hum of the ship all around him. He blinks. Slowly, he rolls to his side and pushes himself up, his thin, grey cover falling off. The automatic lights in his quarters flicker on. He swings his feet to the floor. He rubs his face with one hand.

Leaning over, he sighs and looks up at the ceiling. He looks down.

His mother's voice still echoes in his head. He hasn't dreamed of her in a very long time. Why now? Why that memory? Just as the question crosses his mind, so does the answer. He remembers the other night and his body stiffens. His jaw sets and his chin juts upwards slightly. For a second, he catches the scent of her hair beneath his nostrils.

In an instant, he stands, casting his life monitor to the side. He strides to the closet and begins dressing himself. Dagon arrives today. It's his first visit since Snoke's death. He must tread carefully…

Dagon is not a direct threat to his plans _per se_ … he's not as powerful with the Force as he is. Nowhere near as powerful as Snoke was. But he is a very old worshiper of the Dark Side… ancient. Hundreds of years ancient. Old enough to have served Darth Plagueis. Old enough to have served Darth Sidious. Old enough to have witnessed his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, become Darth Vader. Dagon is not as strong in the Force as he is, but he is strong, strong enough to be dangerous. Strong enough to merit him being on his guard… being prepared. He must conceal his intent—

For a moment, he catches a glimpse of his bare torso in the mirror and thinks of her blush. He can't stop the corners of his mouth from turning upwards.

Quickly, he suppresses the thought and finishes dressing, marching towards the door as it opens automatically. No, Dagon cannot know his endgame. It's not that he has the power to stop him himself. It's the influence he could wield over the Knights… They are all still true believers, just as they were the day they left with him, Luke's academy smoldering distantly behind them.

Back when his faith in the Force was pure… and naïve…

Kylo Ren storms through the sterile halls of the starship as though he were the only man on board. Lost in his thoughts, he brushes past cowed troopers and officers, desperate to dart out of his way.

He slows down as he reaches the command center. He walks up to General Hux and stops just behind him. His back is turned to him. He's barking orders at a couple of operators.

"Is everything prepared?" Kylo asks flatly, interrupting him.

Hux jumps a little at the sound of his voice. He turns to face him, a familiar look of annoyance registering. His eyes roll upwards and his head flits in slight confusion.

"Prepared for what?"

"Lord Dagon 's arrival."

His eyes open wide as he registers his meaning. "Yes, everything is ready. _Of course_ it is." Hux shoots him a look that says he resents Kylo feels the need to ask him this question in the first place.

"Good. We'll assemble in an hour."

"Where?" He asks, with a hint of urgency.

"The Mercury Room." Kylo replies curtly.

"I'll be a little late. I'm finishing a cell of insurgents in the Belderone system."

"No need to worry. You're not invited."

Kylo turns a heel and strides away before he can see Hux's reaction.

He has time. Time to prepare. Dagon will not be easily rebuffed.

His thick boots click swiftly on the smooth grey surface of the ship's floor. He focuses intently on what he's about to do. Blocking out everything around him, he scans into an elevator with tier 1 security clearance and lightly clasps his hands before him, facing directly forward as he feels himself descend.

He stands in silence for a minute. Unwanted thoughts creep around the edges of his mind. He flirts with letting them loose…

The elevator door whirs open, and Kylo bows his head as he walks out with steady, purposeful steps. He walks alone down a narrow hallway and keys in a security code into the door at the end. He enters the ship's analog archive, barreling down the steps into a long rectangular room that, by all appearances, is completely empty with black metallic surfaces.

He walks up to a section of the wall and enters a code on a hidden keypad. Part of the wall opens, revealing a glass orb just bigger than a human hand resting on a slim silver stand. He reaches out and gently dislodges the orb. He brings it towards his face. Reluctantly, he stares into the orb's endless darkness. It seems alive somehow. Constantly spinning, reforming, deepening…

He feels it deep in his body, just below the chest. That twist, accompanied by a sudden coldness. It's a feeling that every sentient being in the galaxy knows.

Fear.

The Phobis Core. One of three known Sith artifacts that can grant the power to manipulate fear. But before you can manipulate it, you must know it.

Kylo breathes heavily as panic begins to spread within him. He imagines a thick black sludge coursing slowly up through his veins, emanating from the twisting knot in his core. More than anything, he wants to look away but he forces himself to keep staring into the great emptiness inside the orb.

The feeling is in his throat now. It tightens. He can hardly breathe. Only shallow, half breaths that leave him wanting.

This is no endeavor for the weak, but he was born for this, he thinks. Born and bred. Born into the Light. Raised by the Darkness. From the beginning, his feelings have been a sandbox for more powerful players in the galaxy. And because of their games, he's become strong in the Force in a way no one ever thought was possible.

He can endure this.

Suddenly he goes blind. At least, it seems so. He sees nothing but blackness, pulsating all around him. It's as if he's inside the Phobis Core itself. The panic reaches its apex. Kylo feels the loss of gravity as he freefalls through infinity. His heart is pounding out of his chest… He keeps falling… the pounding quickens, it will fail him at any second now… He falls forever, forever on the cusp of a heart attack…

In an instant, gravity returns as he feels his two feet firmly planted below him. His breathing is fast and labored, but beginning to slow down. He stares at the orb as it begins to dull. Gradually, his body relaxes as he imagines the black sludge retreating through his veins back into the knot in his core. The knot is tight yet hangs lightly in his chest. It feels like an interloper, an unwelcome guest.

And like a loaded weapon.

He places the orb back on its stand and secures it closed with the key pad. He walks up the steps and back down the long hallway towards the elevator.

In a port nearby, Lord Dagon descends from his ship. His gait is slow and uneven. His round waist juts to one side with each step. Like Snoke, he is a humanoid but badly disfigured from years of channeling the Dark Side of the Force to unnaturally extend his life. His body is heavy yet frail.

He plops down on the automatic chair that sidles next to him. A black clad operator and a small cadre of storm troopers stand by to escort him.

Lord Dagon looks around him warily.

"It always smells like quiet desperation in here." He rolls his eyes as they proceed.

Soon, the door the Mercury Room swings open as Lord Dagon enters. The room is huge with crimson floors and walls with a round table in the center. Lord Dagon slides into place along the table. A moment later, the door whirs open and three black clad figures enter. They each wear masks identical to Kylo Ren's… before he destroyed his.

"Take off those ridiculous masks," commands Lord Dagon. "They won't help you hide anything from me," he snorts.

They each reach up to remove their masks. Mei Ren takes a seat to the right of Lord Dagon, her narrow eyes calmly taking in her surroundings. Noghri Ren takes a seat to the left, tapping his sharp claws on the table as he does. Thulu Ren follows him, finding a seat next to him.

Another door whirs open as Kylo Ren enters. He strides forward without making eye contact with anyone and takes the seat directly opposite to Lord Dagon. Then, he looks up and stares him straight in the eyes. He doesn't waste any time getting directly to the point.

"Snoke is dead but his vision is not." Kylo's voice is deep and confident. "We are too close to achieving it. His passing is immaterial to our success."

"Immaterial…?" Lord Dagon raises an eyebrow as one side of his mouth curls up slyly. "I suppose that means you believe you can take his place… _you_ … a mere boy…"

The corners of Kylo's lips turn up in amusement. He looks down before looking back up at Dagon. "You know the power to complete this mission has nothing to do with age. It has to do with command of the Force. And I have it."

While speaking, Kylo never breaks eye contact with Dagon.

Lord Dagon purses his lips. "You have the _ability_ with the Force," he corrects him, "but you do not have the command of it. That was never more clear than when you let a novice force-sensitive slaughter our Supreme Leader with impunity!" He barely contains his rage as his voice rises. He leans into the table, piercing Kylo's eyes with his own.

For the first time, Kylo can feel him try to enter his mind. Entering unwilling minds is Dagon 's specialty. He fends him off with no small amount of effort.

Lord Dagon shakes his head and leans back. "You never completed your training."

"So what would you suggest?" Kylo asks accusingly, cocking his head slightly. He lets the question hang thick in the air, unanswered.

Lord Dagon sighs.

"This conversation is pointless," interjects Noghri. "Kylo has been ready for this for a long time. Snoke purposefully dragged out his training… surely you felt this… surely you felt his jealousy… and fear."

Lord Dagon cannot deny this. Despite Snoke's grand ambitions of reforming the Sith, he was still irreparably shaped by their twisted ideology… the rule of two… a master perpetually fearful of his apprentice's ambitions, and an apprentice forever hungry for his master's power. What Snoke feared more than anything was a repeat of history…

Once again, Dagon attempts to enter Kylo's mind. Kylo's face tightens as he glares at him and holds him at bay.

Lord Dagon stops trying for the moment and sits back.

"I invited you here as a courtesy," says Kylo to Dagon matter-of-factly. "A recognition of your instrumental role in initiating this project… in preparing each of us for what lies ahead." He gestures to the Knights around him. "We are thankful for your teachings."

Lord Dagon exhales grimly. How could he be here again? How could he live so long to see the same story repeat itself over and over? To be cast aside by a deluded, arrogant, power hungry little sap… only to see him grow stronger and fail, each failure more stupendous and crushing than the last one.

He smiles wryly. "I'm so happy to have been part of your path to greatness," he scoffs with sarcasm.

Mei's head snaps towards him. "We wouldn't be here without you," she says earnestly. "Here, on the precipice of ushering in a new age of Force-wielders... a new understanding of the Force itself…"

 _What a true believer_ , Lord Dagon thinks to himself. Why couldn't she be the one with the pedigree of Force power like this galaxy has never seen?

He looks back to Kylo Ren.

"She's right." Kylo says. "We wouldn't be here without you."

Was that sincerity in his voice? For a third time, Lord Dagon attempts to breach Kylo's mind and, for just a moment, breaks through… enough to be surprised to find his words match his feelings… on some level, at least. The boy has always felt beholden towards him, grateful for at least one teacher who did not actively try to humiliate him.

Lord Dagon sighs again.

"I support you," he relents. "I support you to the end. Despite all our differences, you must know that..." He pauses, and admits with an air of defeat, "You are the only Force-capable being alive with the power to see this through. I just hope you prove a more dexterous wielder of the Force than your grandfather …"

Lord Dagon can feel the rage surge through Kylo Ren, an explosion of anger and resentment that he quickly tries to contain.

But it's too late.

Lord Dagon has a foothold in his mind now. He pries it open adeptly and slips right in. He searches quickly. He won't be able to stay here long.

He sees a beautiful woman, Leia in her prime, cradling a young Kylo—then Ben. He senses conflict… like he always has in this boy… but now he also senses a newfound purpose and determination… a willingness to sacrifice everything, even his own life… then, as if from nowhere, he feels it. The force of it literally knocks him back in his seat.

Lord Dagon gasps for air for a moment, and then begins to laugh…slowly at first, and then more heartily. There's a giddy menace to it. His shoulders heave lightly as he shakes his head and brings his forehead to his palm.

"My God… you really are your grandfather's progeny, aren't you? Your life consumed by a forbidden love. You even love as he did… fiercely… _and obsessively_ " he groans, rolling his eyes upward as he tilts his head back, momentarily lost in memories.

The other Knights look at each other and Kylo uncomfortably. Kylo Ren's jaw twitches to the side. He looks straight ahead at Dagon, avoiding all other eyes. He leans forward, waiting for his moment. He needs him to look back up at him. He needs to catch his eyes directly…

With his forehead still in his palm, Dagon says to no one in particular. "Let this be a lesson to all of you." He looks to Mei. "This is the danger of our new path forward… _increased potential for giving into weakness."_ He articulates each word emphatically. He looks to Thulu. "Reshaping the Force as we mean to will necessitate an ability to endure extremes like neither a Sith nor Jedi has ever endured before…" He looks warily to Kylo Ren, "And if we are to succeed, we must have a leader who can suck out all the marrow the Force has to offer, without becoming consumed by _weak_ emotions…"

Finally, Kylo grips him with his gaze and enters his mind before he can react. He reaches deep within himself, plucking the knot in his core and releasing it into Dagon.

Lord Dagon immediately grows cold. His breath begins to shorten. Suddenly, the light in the room grows too bright and he closes his eyes and buries his head in his hand, struggling for oxygen. Mei begins to get up…

"No need, no need…" Dagon waves her away as he slowly recovers his breath. "Just a chill in an old body." He looks absently downward. For a moment, his mind is lost in thought. Then, he gulps, still struggling to breath with this newly formed knot in his throat. Suddenly, as if reminiscing about good times gone by with an intimate partner, he begins to think aloud.

"You know…" he starts sluggishly. "Your grandfather,…" He catches his breath. "Vader… the same Vader who destroyed cities and commissioned the deaths of countless children… the one who sewed fear every day into the hearts of all around him, breaking their will to him… is the same man who never fell asleep a night in his life without first seeing her face in his mind's eye… Amidala. The beauty from the Naboo. He carried his love for her with him for all those years, like a secret sanctuary inside of him, somewhere he could retreat to in his mind whenever he wanted… his face hidden safely behind a mask. To Sidious's surprise, it ended up enhancing his apprentice's great power… but, ultimately, it was also his undoing…"

Lord Dagon's voice trails off as he looks into nowhere, eyes brimming with the burden of centuries of memories…

Kylo Ren clicks his tongue impatiently. "We thank you for coming," he says, barely disguising the smug, self-assured tone in his voice. "But we all have important things we must attend to." He stands and the others follow his lead.

"Yes, yes, it was good to see you all…" Lord Dagon says absent mindedly. As Kylo passes by him, Dagon suddenly grabs his wrist and looks up at him, the fear palpable in his eyes. His eyes are wide and desperate, almost pleading… "Tell me…. at least Snoke died knowing he trained a capable leader to complete his life's mission… a vision brewing for a thousand years, finally come to being."

Kylo nods. Then turns to walk away.

The old man does not have long. The seed of fear is growing inside him. Soon, he will succumb to it… and will be one less thing he needs to worry about.

He stops himself from breathing a sigh of relief as strides confidently down the imperial ship's halls. So Dagon and the others know about his attraction to Rey. Dagon can hardly fault him too much for it. He, the man who once drunkenly told him and every other Knight that they could not consider themselves true wielders of the Dark Side until they seduced at least one unwilling lover.

That advice lead to more than one Knight falling into slightly similar circumstances as the one he now finds himself in… slightly. Surely, they won't think twice about it. After what Dagon just said, they'll most likely interpret it as more evidence that he truly is the Chosen One… Anakin reborn, the one destined to bring balance to the Force, successfully this time…

He is. But not in the way they think.

He walks slowly to a large window in a remote area of the command center and looks out into the dark expanse of space. Silently, Mei Ren comes to stand next to him.

"It's the girl, isn't it?" She finally asks. "Your forbidden love…? The Force-sensitive who slayed the Supreme Leader?"

For a moment, he stands unmoving. Then he nods curtly without looking at her.

He can feel her uncertainty… and jealousy. She continues to stand silently, digesting the information.

"The one you share a Force bond with?" She asks but she already knows the answer. "That could be… useful," she says tentatively, cocking her head.

"It already has been," Kylo says dismissively. "It's how I know the Resistance is in possession of the Crystal of Aantonaii."

Mei's eyes widen in disbelief. _"Now!?"_ She hisses. "We must retrieve it immediately!"

"We will," Kylo Ren assures her. "We will."

She looks at him with doubt for a moment. She almost says something, but thinks better of it when he turns to glower at her. She bows dutifully and walks away.

He turns back to the window.

This morning was a victory.

Dagon knows. About Rey. But not about his plans. And that was the more important truth to conceal.

He feels self-satisfied… but still restless. Always restless. Longing aches, eats at him interminably… he's learned to live with it. Like a chronic injury.

The unwanted thoughts creep around the edges of his mind again… this time he allows them seep in.

She was so broken… so afraid. Sobbing on the dirty floor of a cave deep in some abandoned planet. He plays the scene over in his mind again. Her begging him to leave. Him watching her… feeling her pain, so cold and lonely and terrified of dying an inconsequential death. Sitting down next to her. Pulling her to him, almost without thinking, knowing instinctively that he could through their Force bond. Feeling her small, trembling body against him as she buried her face in his chest.

She fit perfectly. Like she was made for him.

Feeling her breath slow and even as she let herself melt into him, opening herself completely to the Force bond. She lost herself in it… content to submit to the security of a second heartbeat… to hear it thrumming reassuringly right next to her ear, to feel it pulsing peacefully inside of her.

She wants so much not to be lonely, to belong to someone. He would so gladly give that to her if she'd let him.

Thinking back, he still can't believe she let herself give in as long as she did… this girl who's tried to kill him twice. She let herself be so vulnerable with him, as though she trusted him completely... Slender body relaxing against his, soft hair tickling his lips, his hand gently sliding down the side of her body, stopping at the curve of her hip, gripping her gently as he draws her closer…

Kylo Ren sits down and turns inwards, away from the nearby operators. Sometimes he does miss wearing a mask.

If she had only said yes. They could both have what they want right now, if not for her stubbornness and her ignorance about the true nature of the Force. But he knows she is not open to considering his perspective… not after what she's seen him do.

Lately, he lies awake at night, imagining alternate futures where she took his hand. Infinite futures, stretching out like possibilities before him… just out of reach.

He sighs heavily. They are so close—his Knights of Ren. So close to obtaining everything they need to complete the ritual.

The weight of responsibility hangs heavy over him. He will finish what his grandfather started. He will truly bring balance to the Force…

Doubt, a familiar enemy, interrupts his thoughts. His body tightens in anger at himself. For a moment, he focuses on his rage. It helps to banish the fear.

Suddenly, he gets up and strides swiftly to the head of the command center. He has a new course to set. An artifact to retrieve.

He _will_ fulfill his destiny.

He just wishes he didn't have to do it alone.


	3. Chapter 3: To be Human

Chapter Three: To be Human

The Falcon is quiet. Dead quiet.

Usually, Rey can hear the hum of the ship all around her, but not now. The ship is docked and in low power mode.

Rey hunches over, curled up in a nook—her nook— with a bright, focused light streaming down on the open book before her. On one side is a course, wizened page of the Jedi text. On the other is a smooth, mostly blank page except for a few scribbles at the top. She lies back on a slight incline, her knees bent close to her chest, feet propped up. Frequently, she turns her head up to the computer above her, entering data, searching existing records… her neck is sore from looking down at the text and up at the computer, again and again… Every so often, she jots a few marks on the page to the right.

She's translating.

It is a slow, _painfully slow_ , process…

When she took the Jedi texts from the temple in Ahch-To, she did it because she felt compelled to learn about what Master Skywalker was so reluctant to teach her. It never occurred to her that she wouldn't be able to read most of what was in them.

Learning languages, translating between them… that's something that has always come easily to her. But this… what she is doing now… this is something else entirely.

The texts are comprised of multiple languages, many of which have been dead for centuries. In order to piece them together, she must draw from scripts that look like they might have developed from them. But languages evolve… the few existing scripts she's found that look like they might be ancestors of the Jedi originals have precious little in common with the marks she sees scrawled across these pages. Much of what she comes up with is pure guess work… a chilling thought considering the vital knowledge locked in these pages. What if she gets something terribly wrong?

On top of everything, she's working from incomplete archives. Last time she saw her, the General told Rey she would help her gain access to better, more complete archival records that might give her new scripts to work from. But she hasn't seen the General since she gave her the Sith crystal a week ago…

The Resistance moves around a lot these days. That's the advantage of being a much smaller outfit… mobility. They barely stay more than a week in one place. Often, one or two of them go off on an independent mission to shore up support for the Resistance or throw road blocks in the First Order's path. But they are little more than a buzzing nuisance to the First Order's progress…

After the death of Snoke, General Hux wasted no time in tightening his grip on the star systems under First Order control, which, after the destruction of the Republic, is the vast majority of them. If the First Order's reign seemed brutal before…

They've heard rumors. Entire planets purged of all life because of the deeds of just a handful. Razed and reborn as massive First Order production centers and bases… all the more readily if the planet is home to precious natural resources.

This has made it difficult for General Leia to find new allies. Most everyone living on a planet left more or less alone by the First Order is focused on surviving, preserving their way of life by whatever means possible.

Rey can hardly blame them. She's spent most of her life focused on survival. It does something to people… that razor-sharp focus on just remaining alive. It makes people do selfish things. Despicable things. Living in a world like this… it makes you turn inward and build a wall of distrust to protect yourself from theft, treachery, rape, and much worse.

So, no. Rey cannot feel resentment towards people for turning down the Resistance's request to take up arms, to fight… so many of them… so many of them just want to keep the ones they love alive. Joining the resistance is a surefire way to put your family and friends in danger.

Sometimes, she wishes Poe would understand this… that it isn't an evil in and of itself to stand by and let evil happen… not when you're doing so to protect the people you love.

We can't just expect people to give up everything, to put their family and friends at risk to join us. We have to _inspire_ them to do this.

This is why Rey has much more faith in Finn and Rose's mission in Cantonica than whatever the General has up her sleeve. She hasn't told anyone this… everyone seems to be placing all of their hope on General Leia patching together an army from the broken remnants of the New Republic. But Rey has a feeling… their redemption will come swiftly… and from a source no one expects…

Rey sighs. She's let her mind wander again. She's not focusing. For a moment, her eyelids hang heavy as the dull ache of exhaustion creeps up on her. Perhaps it's time to go to bed.

She reaches up to switch off the computer. She closes the Jedi text and gets up. She walks over and pulls up a trap door on the Falcon's floors. She drops inside the empty space and reaches for a small metal box. She presses her thumb to the sensor on the latch and it opens. She tucks the Jedi text in back with the others and closes it. She crawls back up and reseals the trap door. Then she heads to the cockpit.

It's a weird place to sleep, she knows. It's not like the Falcon doesn't have several proper beds. She doesn't even have to sleep on the Falcon. She has her own quarters next to the others in this old, abandoned rebel base. But it's strange how quickly the Falcon has come to feel like home… much more so than the AT-AT walker on Jakku ever did. She likes being here. And she likes sleeping in the cockpit. She finds it easier to fall asleep there, curled back into the command chair like it's her throne, this place where she first discovered what she was really capable of.

Easier… but not easy.

Rey sinks back into the chair with a thick, brown cover and a pillow. Instead of putting the pillow behind her head, she hugs it close to her chest and lays back, drawing the blanket up to her neck.

She stares at the ceiling.

This is the worst part. Closing her eyes. She's afraid of where her mind will go between then and sleep.

She knows exactly where it will go. The same place it's gone every night since she saw him in the cave.

She hates that she can't stop thinking about it. But in the end, she forgives herself because… the truth is… she's never experienced anything like that before. And not just the healing.

Jakku is a planet scarce in many things… human connection chief among them.

It was typical for her to go countless months without ever feeling another being's touch on her skin.

One time when she was about fourteen, she was at the washing bins in Niima Outpost cleaning off her finds for the day. She was struggling because she'd taken a bad fall earlier and injured her right wrist. She kept putting down what she was working on and rubbing her injury, stretching her hand gently up and down.

As a young girl living alone on Jakku, Rey had developed a sixth sense for when someone was watching her… she could feel it… someone's gaze on her… but every time she looked up, looked around, she never caught anyone staring. Finally, Old Nan, or at least that's what everyone called her, pulled off her gloves and got up from her washing station, gathering her things in a netted bag. She began to walk towards the line forming in front of Plutt's desk.

She unexpectedly stopped just as she passed Rey and dropped her bag on the table before her. Rey looked up, startled and guarded. But then she sensed the old woman meant her no harm. With both of her soft, wrinkled hands, she reached out for Rey's injured wrist. First, she just held it up lightly, inspecting it for a moment. Then, she slid off Rey's glove, holding her forearm with one hand. She applied gentle pressure to her wrist with her thumb in the center and two fingers on the back, first at the bottom edge of her palm, then continuing up her arm. Once she reached the center of her forearm, she began working her way back to where she started with firm but gentle squeezes. Sometimes, Rey winced in pain when she hit a sensitive spot, but she never stopped her.

When she was finished, Old Nan gently released her wrist. Rey brought it back, close to her body, rubbing it with her other hand. She looked up curiously at the old woman, stunned. Though her lips remained unmoving, Old Nan's eyes twinkled with a kind smile. She slowly reached to retrieve her bag, then continued along her way.

Rey cried herself to sleep every night for weeks thinking back on those precious moments.

Someone had noticed her… noticed that she was in pain. That in itself practically counts as a miracle on Jakku, a harsh place where most people notice little more than what's relevant to their own survival. But Old Nan had noticed her… and then reached out to her… through her reservations, her mistrust… and touched Rey's skin with her own… with tenderness… with the intention to relieve her pain. Such a small gesture… but to her lonely heart, it meant everything.

So she can forgive herself for having trouble forgetting about that day in the cave.

A tear escapes the corner of her eye and trickles slowly down her cheek.

She felt it. How much he loves her. Thinking back on it… maybe she felt it even before he healed her. Leaning into his chest with his arms around her, that strong but peaceful feeling like a steady glow inside her.

In everything she's read or translated from the Jedi texts, in everything Maz Kanata, Master Skywalker, or General Leia have ever told her about the Force, in every legend or fantastic story she's ever heard about centuries past when the Jedi and Sith tore apart the galaxy with their wars, she's never heard about anything like the Force bond she shares with Ben.

Sensing when a loved one has died, sensing when a massive influx of life or death suddenly rips through the Force… these are things she's heard of.

But being able to talk to another person who's lightyears away as though they were in the same room? Being able to see their surroundings and yet not physically be there? Being able to touch them as though you both existed on the same physical plane? Being able to feel what the other is feeling as though it were your own emotion? Being able to sense the Force flowing through them and tap into their power with your own, strengthening it?

As far as Rey can tell, this is unprecedented. And she has no idea what it means.

Sometimes it weighs heavily upon her, her ignorance about the Force, about the meaning behind everything she's feeling… the more she learns and experiences, the more she feels like she doesn't know.

Like last week in the cave… she had no idea the Force could be used to heal.

Nothing she'd been able to read from the Jedi texts mentioned healing. So as soon as she could, she contacted Maz Kanata. Maz told her that the Jedi could use the Force to heal… but the Sith could not. She told her that in the old days, the Jedi Order kept a small unit of Jedi healers whose mission was to spread knowledge about the role of the spirit in rebuilding the body across the galaxy. But she emphasized that Force healing is a talent that is difficult to master, and few Jedi were strong enough in the Force to apply the ability consistently. Only a handful of Jedi truly excelled at it, but those who did could perform wonders beyond belief—healing mortal wounds, even injuries to vital organs. "It's a skill that requires a tremendous amount of power in the Force," Maz had told her. "and a great deal of compassion for others."

Rey sighs as she hugs her pillow closer to her and rests her head back into the chair with her eyes softly closed.

Compassion. Love. Protectiveness. That's what she felt from Ben when he healed her. "A Jedi can… but a Sith cannot."

For a moment, anger wells up inside of her, practically choking her.

Giving over to evil… to the Dark side… drawing upon rage and fear to impose one's will… these are choices. Choices we all make every day.

Ben has so much compassion in him… such a desire to give into it…

 _Why does he keep making the wrong choice?_

It's a bitter thing… to finally know what it feels like to be loved… but under circumstances she can never accept.

Rey's eyes fly open as she sits straight up in the command chair with a short gasp. She's not alone.

She had absolutely no warning this time.

Slowly, she turns her head to the right. He's leaning against the command dashboard, body relaxed but eyes alert, head cocked, arms folded, looking at her inquisitively. His eyes wander around for a moment, appearing to take in the surroundings.

He looks back at her, first at her face, then his gaze slides idly downwards over her body to the pillow and cover scattered on the floor.

"Are you sleeping here?" He asks with a hint of a disbelief.

"Yes," Rey says a little defensively.

His eyes roll slowly upwards and around, taking in the scene once more, before meeting her gaze again. For a second, his eyebrows twinge together and the corner of his mouth turns up slightly. "Here, in the cockpit of my father's old piece of junk ship?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Yes," she says, a bit more emphatically this time.

He raises both eyebrows briefly, before he stands tall and clasps his gloved hands behind his back, walking past her between the two command chairs, trying to suppress a smirk.

"I'm sorry to see the Resistance is unable to provide you with a bed."

 _Is he teasing her?_

"Yes, it's shocking that we find ourselves so short on supplies these days," she replies sarcastically. As he walks behind her, she spins the chair around. He turns to face her.

"How's your leg," he asks, looking down at her left thigh and back up at her.

"It's fine," she answers softly, breaking eye contact for a moment. "It's as though nothing ever happened."

She looks back up at him with a question in her eyes… but she can't bring herself to ask it.

He stands straight with his shoulders resting down his back, his hands still clasped behind him… waiting for her to speak. He waits for several moments. Then, before Rey knows what's happening, he reaches into her mind to retrieve the question.

"Huh," he says, cocking his head slightly and walking a circular path around the cockpit.

"You want to know if I've ever healed anyone before."

"Have you," she asks.

"Yes," he replies without looking at her.

"When…?" She asks cautiously.

"You mean was it before or after I left Luke's academy," he corrects her.

She shrugs her shoulders and looks directly at him, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"Both," he says. "Before and after."

Rey sinks back in the command chair, taking in his answer. She looks thoughtful… and a bit confused.

Again, he probes her mind, searching her thoughts.

"Stop that!" She yells forcefully, getting up from her chair.

He still circles the cockpit nonchalantly.

"You know," he starts. "Maz Kanata… she is very old and very wise… but she is no Jedi. Or Sith. She doesn't know nearly as much about the Force as she thinks she does."

Rey stands in the middle of the cockpit, eyeing him with suspicion… but also curiosity. She gives him a look that says, "And…?"

He nods his head and continues. "The Sith can heal."

Rey's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"Darth Bane was the first Sith Lord to use the Dark Side of the Force to heal. By concentrating on the pain of children slain before their father's eyes, he was able bring himself back from the brink of death."

"What about the ability to heal others?" Rey asks without skipping a beat.

"It's not unheard of," he replies. "The power of the darkness can accomplish much more than you realize," he says with ominous undertones in his voice.

Rey shakes her head.

"But that's not what you drew upon to heal me in the cave," she says.

"Is that right," he asks sardonically, stopping to fully face her.

"Yes, it is," she says stepping forward, her eyes trained intensely on his. He can't stop himself from flinching backwards slightly. This time, she's the one who enters his mind.

Fear… always fear… he's half ashamed for the way he feels about her… scared of how it could interfere with his plans… plans?

He steps away from her quickly, shaking her from his mind like a chill.

"For having so much power, you know so little about the Force," he scoffs, striding around the cockpit.

She bends her head slightly in partial assent. "True. But I know enough to know that you didn't draw from the Dark Side of the Force to heal me. _Don't try to lie to me, Ben._ I felt it."

For a moment, a look of vulnerability flashes across his eyes. Then they grow dark and harden. "You think you know about the Force… Dark Side… Light Side… things aren't that simple," he spits the words out with mounting frustration.

This time he's the one to step towards her, menacingly, his eyes piercing hers. "How exactly to you think you were able to retrieve that crystal?" He asks accusingly.

Rey stiffens. So he did know about the artifact.

"Think about it Rey," the words come out of his mouth forcefully.

For a minute, she's back in the cave… back in the darkness. Her hand is hovering an inch from the wall… she's feeling the Force run through her, she's feeling calm and still… then she hears the screams… the children… so much pain… she loosens her hold on the artifact… fear of failure slips in… her body grows cold… she concentrates on this… the feeling turns to a fire inside her… the Force surges, at her command… the artifact bursts through the wall into her hand…

Her eyes are filled with…worry. Did she…? Even if she did, how would she know…?

"You did," he says flatly, as though he's answering the question in her mind. "I know because the Crystal of Aantonaii is an immensely powerful Sith artifact. Its age is unknown. Darth Sidious himself hid it away, burying it in darkness so only a like-minded Force-wielder could be able to retrieve it." He turns slowly towards her, and raises an eyebrow knowingly.

Rey starts to breathe a little more quickly, a faint sense of panic rising.

His eyes soften a little. He steps towards her, gently this time.

"Rey, look at me." There's concern in his voice. He can't take his eyes off her.

"You have no idea what you're dabbling in… with the artifacts… with your power in the Force…" His voice trails off as he shakes his head and looks away for a moment. Then he looks back at her abruptly.

"It will tear you apart if you're not careful. _Trust_ _me_." The emphasis on the last two words land like pin pricks.

She searches his eyes, entering his mind once more… what is he so afraid of?

He steps back with alarm, but can't bring himself to look away from her.

They both eye each other wearily, an expression of distrust flickering across both their faces.

Then, in an instant, she's standing alone in the cockpit of the Falcon once more.

She stands still for a minute, the silence deafening around her.

Rey sighs. She'll never get any sleep now.

She stoops down to pick up her pillow and cover, then walks out of the cockpit back to the trap door in the floor. She retrieves the Jedi text she was working on before and returns to her nook, flipping on the computer.

She works throughout the night with diligence and focus. After her midnight visit, she is more determined than ever to learn everything she can about the Jedi… the Force…

She works until she hears the others clanging around outside. Then, she securely locks all of her work away and clicks open the door to the Falcon. She walks down the landing carefully, looking around her. She sees Poe to the right, crouched over BB-8 with Hala. As she walks over to them, Poe catches sight of her out of the corner of his eye and stands, turning towards her.

As she gets closer, his smile gradually fades. He looks intently at her face and then cocks his head slightly in disbelief. "You…" he points at her accusingly. "You didn't sleep last night, did you?"

Rey rolls her eyes in a flit of annoyance, but she doesn't deny it.

"Rey! Again! You've got to be kidding me…" he spits out with frustration.

"Seriously, you need to sleep." He reiterates. Suddenly, she sees an idea light up his face. "That's it. BB-8's babysitting you tonight."

"What!?" Rey protests.

BB-8 exclaims in beeps and whirs, "Is that really so bad?"

"No… you know I didn't mean it like that BB-8," she says kneeling down briefly to adjust the droid's antennae. When she stands up, she looks directly at Poe. "It's just, I don't need anyone or anything hovering over me, pressuring me to get some sleep," she says decisively.

"Then, I'd never get any sleep," she mutters, walking away.

"Fine," Poe says, throwing up his hands. "Fine. I give up. But I just want you to know…"

Before he can finish his sentence, an alarm sounds.

For a moment, everyone freezes. Then, all at once, they whip into action.

The base is absolute chaos.

"What the hell is it!?"

"First Order command ship."

"How the hell did it find us?"

"We've only been here two days!"

"BB-8! Ship! Now!"

Chewie cries in the distance for Rey to join him on the Falcon.

She runs towards him, stopping to pick up anything and everything around her that's most valuable to the resistance.

Chewie cries again, this time telling her to hurry.

She jets towards him as fast as she can with her arms full, running awkwardly up the landing of the ship.

She releases her load to the floor with a crash, then runs to the cockpit. Frantically, she and Chewie gear up the Falcon for takeoff.

As she races through the steps, a familiar feeling creeps up on her… familiar, but different.

He's here. Not through the Force bond. _He's actually here._

And in an instant, the realization hits her. She remembers him striding around the cockpit, eyes wandering… the ship was in low power mode, but its basic functions were running unhindered.

He saw her location.

It was her. She led him right to us.


	4. Chapter 4: Capturing the Crystal

Chapter 4: Capturing the Crystal of Aantonaii

The resistance fighter runs, panting, down the long white hallway. He's moving as fast as he can, but with blaster wounds on his leg, shoulder, and hip, that's not very fast.

He's slowed down by that, and the heavy metallic case he's clutching to his chest. It's sealed shut—he doesn't even have the access code to it. All he knows is that it contains something the General desperately wants to keep away from the First Order. That fact alone motivates him onwards…through his pain… and fear.

As he struggles forward with a slight limp and with quick, labored breaths, he hears them behind him.

*click, click, click*

The pace of his heart quickens as he can hear sound of their thick, black boots on the pristine white floors coming gradually closer.

*click, click, click*

Three, no four, pairs of footsteps are following behind him. They are walking briskly but not running. They don't need to. They have him, and they know it. The resistance fighter knows it too; they're just playing with him now. Like predators with their prey…

The fighter gives a jump when he suddenly hears a loud electric crackle pierce the near silence then settle to a low, steady hum.

He hears another crackle.

Then another, then another.

The electric humming behind him grows louder as they get closer.

He knows what that sound is… lightsabers.

He's only seen one once before, a few years ago on Yavin 4. But he remembers it with perfect clarity… the imposing, black clad figure with a mask, the long, red blade with two tiny flames jutting out each side at the base, the steading electric hum interrupted only by the screams of his fellow fighters, his friends… how easily he deflected their blasters and cut them down with cold precision.

The resistance fighter knows he shouldn't but he can't help himself. As he stumbles forward, he slows down just a moment to glance briefly behind him.

His head snaps back in front of him.

It's him. And three others just like him. All of them in black robes and masks.

That's when the reality sets in.

This is the day. His last day. He will never see his wife and little girl on Corellia again. A deep longing crushes down on him. He wishes he could hold them in his arms one last time…

Kylo Ren leads the others with strong, purposeful strides. They follow behind him closely—Mei Ren, Silo Ren, and Baal Ren.

They've found it, finally, thanks to Silo. The Crystal of Aantonaii, Darth Sidious's prized possession. It's said that every Dark Lord since Darth Bane has channeled its power, inevitably infusing it with their own as a consequence. This one artifact contains the raw power of a hundred Sith Lords… it is absolutely essential to their mission.

It hadn't been on Deveron. He sensed that the moment he walked off the ship. Rey must have given it to the General a few days earlier.

He had betrayed her location for nothing.

The rebel outfit on Deveron was small, so he saw no utility in chasing after them. Capturing the crystal was more important than snuffing out the lives of a handful of rebels. At least, that's what he told the commanding officer.

Several days later, they got lucky. For the past two years, Silo has been posing as a resistance pilot, feeding the First Order valuable information about the rebellion's plans and locations. He received intel that an important item retrieved by the Jedi girl had made its way to a tiny rebel base located in an out of the way fuel port in Bespin, on its way to a more secure location. He had to break his cover to reveal this to the other Knights, but it was worth it. Necessary. They need that crystal.

The resistance fighter trips a little as he rushes through the automatic door onto the landing deck. The air on this planet is crisp and dry. The brown sky is dark with heavy clouds.

This is it. The rendezvous point. But no one is coming… he knows that. He saw the rebellion's transports— _all of them_ —go up in flames just a few minutes ago.

There's nowhere else to run.

The resistance fighter staggers to the end of the landing deck and looks over the edge. There's another deck below… way below. It's a long way down. Even if he did jump, it would accomplish nothing. They would simply retrieve the case from his limp, mangled body.

He takes a few desperate gasps of air before turning around.

Kylo Ren walks out onto the landing deck, directly towards the panicked fighter. His knights fan out behind him, Mei circling to his right and Silo and Baal to his left. They take their positions, blocking off the fighter from the most of the landing deck, cornering him. They stand silently, lightsabers still humming.

The fighter gulps and, for the first time, gets a good look at them. There are four, just as he thought. They are all tall and imposing, though the leader towers above the rest. He can't tell what species they are with their masks on, but they all look humanoid.

Each of them wields a lightsaber. The leader and one of the figures to the left carry long red sabers, but the two others have something different. Their sabers are double sided with one side glowing blue and the other glowing red.

Kylo Ren stops several feet in front of the fighter.

He stands there for a few moments, what feels like a lifetime to the fighter, staring him down. Kylo can feel the dark energy of the crystal calling out to him from the case… he hears the faint sound of screaming in his head.

The fighter cowers and trembles before him… he wants to close his eyes, to turn his head down, but he is determined to die an honorable death. With effort, he tries to catch his breath, clutching the case in his arms manically and doing his best to gaze straight up into his pursuer's masked face.

Kylo Ren cocks his head to the side. "You're a brave one, aren't you?" He asks in a low, distorted voice.

Then it all happens so fast. Before the fighter even registers the action, Kylo's arm shoots forward with his hand extended and Force-commands the case to him. It flies right out of the fighter's arms, pulling him forward and knocking him down to his knees. With the case now in his hands, he turns around to hand it to Silo, who walks up to retrieve it. Silo then walks directly off the landing deck through the automatic doors as they close behind him. He's taking the crystal straight to the command ship. _Now._ They've waited too long to get their hands on this artifact. Kylo won't take any chances with its security.

He looks down at the fighter cowering on his knees a few paces ahead of him…

 _It's time_ , the fighter thinks to himself. It will all be over soon.

For a second, he thinks he's hearing things, but then he's not so sure. Is that… a freighter approaching…?

The Millennium Falcon descends swiftly from the thick, brown clouds and begins to slow down as it approaches the landing deck… slow down, but not stop.

As the ship glides by, a solitary form drops from the bottom of it and lands directly between Kylo Ren and the resistance fighter.

It's Rey.

She stands tall to face him. He towers over her, but she doesn't look scared. She looks angry.

"You're not taking anymore lives today." She looks at him coldly.

It does not take much effort to read her emotions. They're burning wild and uncontrolled.

She. Is. _Infuriated_. At him.

She feels betrayed… even, hurt? Like he broke some unspoken trust between them.

Kylo expected as much from her. He's been relieved their Force bond hasn't brought them together since he gave up her location on Deveron. He knew that decision wouldn't go over well… but what did she expect him to do? She had the crystal. He wanted it. She knew that. What… was he supposed to just ignore her coordinates flashing dimly on a side panel of the Falcon? Surely, she's not that naïve…

Then he notices it. And when he does, he feels the pit of his stomach drop.

She's unarmed. Completely unarmed.

No lightsaber. No blaster. No quarterstaff. Not even a stick.

And she's confronting him and two of his knights… his _best_ knights. _Unarmed_.

He has a bad feeling. This is not going to end well… for him.

Kylo can hear Mei and Baal approaching behind him, circling closer to Rey, lightsabers drawn.

For a moment, Kylo considers Force-knocking both Rey and the fighter off the edge to the lower deck. He's certain she wouldn't die from the impact… not with her power and nimble reflexes.

But before he can act, both Mei and Baal charge at her, lightsabers drawn.

Closing her eyes, Rey raises her arms on either side of her, palms extended outwards, each one facing one of the charging knights. In a second, both of them fly far back into the air, hitting the hard surface with a thud and then sliding to crash into the wall at the other end of the deck, their lightsabers clattering out of their hands.

It's just him now. He can feel the knights clamoring to their feet far behind him, watching to see what he will do…

He's frozen still with indecision.

She's looking directly into his eyes, almost as she can see him through his mask. She still doesn't look at all scared. Instead, there's a hint of a challenge in her eyes… "Come and get me," she seems to be saying to him.

So he does.

He twirls the lightsaber once by his side, then lunges at her. She tucks and rolls, dodging the saber and repositioning herself to the other side of him. She looks up at him, crouching, one leg extended out, one arm back and the other in front of her, fingertips lightly touching the surface of the deck.

He brings the lightsaber down hard directly on top of her, but she leaps slightly to his left, somersaulting over his head and landing back where she started behind him.

He turns around. She's growing more powerful…

Again, he slashes at her— one, two, three, four— with precise, powerful swings. As he advances, she dodges his blows, to the right, to the left, then the right again. As he pushes her to the edge of the deck, she tucks and rolls again to reposition herself behind him, then back flips away from him as he charges at her.

He misses again.

Mei and Baal are silently watching from the back of the deck. Kylo can feel their eyes on him.

Rey's standing just ahead of him. She has a smug glint in her eye, as though she's taunting him.

Kylo feels rage well up inside of him. He focuses on it as it burns hotter in his chest. For just a moment, he closes his eyes to channel it. Then he bursts forward towards her.

As much as he's grown to hate the Force, he loves this feeling. At least in the moment. White, hot control. And power.

Rapidly twirling his lightsaber a couple of times at his side, as though he's charging it, he aims a hard, fast swing at her core. She ducks reflexively, just in time to miss the blow though the heat of his lightsaber singes the tip of her bun.

Without skipping a beat, he raises his blade over his head and brings it down on her like a hammer.

In a panic, Rey barrels her head, her whole body, into his core, knocking him back a step, throwing off his aim. She moves to tuck and roll a to his left, but he catches her upper arm and pulls her up in front of him, clutching her tightly.

Good. She looks scared now.

In one swift motion, he raises his lightsaber overhead in preparation to strike.

She looks up at him with wide eyes.

He hesitates.

He tightens his grip as she looks at him… waiting for him to make his decision.

Then, before Kylo knows what's happening, Rey reaches out and calls Mei Ren's lightsaber out of her hand directly into hers, switching it on. Rey looks down at it surprised… like she's never seen a two-sided lightsaber before.

Rey rears back, and gives a violent kick right into Kylo's stomach, loosening his grip.

Mei snatches Baal's lightsaber from him, switching it on and charging at Rey.

Rey catches Kylo's next blow with one end of her lightsaber, then ducks and moves to the right before striking at him with the other side.

He deftly leans away from the blow, and moves to strike back, but Mei strikes first. She spins hard into precise hit, locking lightsabers with Rey, knocking her backwards. Rey pushes forward, fending off Mei's saber before sliding to the side and swinging the opposite side of her weapon towards her body for a blow. She hits the side of Mei's waist.

Mei lets outs a small cry, then whips her saber towards Rey. Before it hits, Rey steps forward to catch her, locking the center of her lightsaber to the base of Mei's. She thrusts forward, knocking Mei back, then delivers a strong kick to the center of her chest.

Mei flies back, landing not far behind Kylo. He walks back to help her up.

With one swift motion, Rey extends her free hand towards the two and Force-slams them back several feet. Then she turns to run towards the resistance fighter, still crouching stunned at the edge of the deck. She grabs her commlink and asks Chewie "You're in position right?"

He baws in assent.

Right as she gets to the edge, she stoops down and grips the fighter's arm, pulling him up and over with her.

They don't fall far. Straight onto the Falcon hovering below. Rey pulls the fighter down with her into an opening on top of the ship. It jerks forward as it powers up, then shoots away into the clouds.

Kylo Ren stands, breathing heavily as he watches the Falcon disappear.

For a few seconds, everything is silent, even the air. Then he hears the click of Mei's mask.

"What was that?" She asks in raging disbelief.

He removes his mask to face her, but doesn't say anything.

" _What was that!?"_ She repeats in an emphatic shout.

"What do you mean?" He asks, breaking eye contact.

She glares at him.

" _You_ ," she starts, "You were pulling your punches with that girl. And now that little scavenger piece of trash has made off with _my lightsaber_!" She's seething.

She turns back and walks towards the deck entrance, her shoulders stiff and hunched over. She whips back around, eyes shooting like daggers into his.

"Lord Dagon was right. You are _not_ ready," she says shaking her head. Baal Ren walks up behind her, still in his mask. He tilts his head, not sure what he's walked into.

"You're letting your feelings for that girl interfere with our sacred calling, _your_ sacred responsibility. A true leader of the Knights wouldn't sink so far into the Light as to love someone. After what I just saw…" she trails off into a scoff, shaking her head. "How are supposed to lead us, the Jedi killer who can't kill the last Jedi? You know that's where this has end. You know that, right?"

She steps forward, looking up at him intently.

"You're going to have to kill her."

He looks downward, considering this for a moment. Then he turns away abruptly, walking towards the deck entrance.

Mei follows closely behind him. Baal follows her.

"You cannot walk away from that fact, Kylo," Mei calls after him.

"If you can't bring yourself to do your duty, to do what needs to be done, your life will mean _nothing_ , just like your grandfather's."

Kylo Ren's light saber crackles to life. With several swift, violent swings, he slashes into the control center next to the landing deck entrance, destroying it in fiery bursts of red and orange.

He clicks his light saber back off.

He turns and steps towards Mei, piercing eyes dead-locked on hers.

"You want to talk about a life meaning nothing…? My life, your life, Baal's, Silo's, Snoke's, Lord Dagon's, all of those lives will mean nothing if we don't complete what we started, what _they_ started."

She looks into his eyes suspiciously, attempting to probe his mind. He rebuffs her easily.

"Don't test me. Don't challenge me. And _don't_ question me," he intones coldly, calmly. "I am the Chosen One. I delivered you from the folly of the Jedi. I brought you before Snoke. I set you on this course, this precious mission that now defines your existence."

He leans in a little closer to her. "You really ought to show more appreciation," he says in a low, menacing tone. He looks over to Baal. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Baal stands awkwardly for a moment, then takes a knee and bows before Kylo.

He looks back to Mei. She eyes Kylo with reservation and a hint of resentment.

"Mei," he says softly. "We're too close to the end to let ourselves cave in, to fall apart. I still need you. I need your loyalty. The other Knights respect you."

Mei looks down, considering his words. Then her eyes snap back up at him.

" _Don't_ disappoint me. Don't disappoint us." Her words sound like a warning.

She bends her knee and bows with Baal.

Kylo looks down at both of them for a moment, then turns to silently walk away from them.

Thoughts of betrayal, distrust, and mutiny plague him for the rest of the day. They hang over him like a dark cloud.

His hold over them is loosening, he thinks as he walks to his quarters that night. They're nowhere near as strong in the Force as he is, but they can still sense it, especially Mei… he isn't as devoted to the cause as he once was. In truth, he isn't devoted to it at all. He's only devoted to his own mission, his birthright and burden as the only living descendent of Anakin Skywalker. But he can't let them know that…

He's so close. They have the Crystal of Aantonaii. They only lack one final Sith artifact, and two more of the others. He doesn't have to hold them together for long. Just long enough…

His thoughts drift to the landing deck on Bespin earlier. What was she thinking, dropping in unarmed and outnumbered after the battle had already been lost? Even his father never did anything that foolhardy.

But Rey isn't stupid.

She's a survivor. She wouldn't be so casual in throwing away her life.

His pace along the smooth grey floor slows as the realization hits him— _she wasn't risking her life._

She wasn't risking her life because she knew he wouldn't kill her.

He begins to feel uneasy.

What if she did it on purpose, as a calculated move to undermine his position with the Knights? Revenge for betraying her location on Deveron? What if she had looked into his mind that night on the Falcon, and saw his fear… his fear that the Knights would turn on him? And then, knowing his feelings for her…

He grows more unsettled as he considers these possibilities.

This Force bond… it's a very dangerous thing. Especially right now. He has to conceal so much from everyone around him, including people who can probe his mind, sense his weaknesses. He must conceal much more from her. And she's getting better at getting his guard down…

Kylo stops to key in the code to his quarters. Once he enters, he clicks off his new mask and sets it on a column near the door. He sinks onto his bed and hunches over, resting his forearms on his knees and clasping his hands together. He stares into nothing, still lost in his paranoia.

Suddenly, his thoughts halt to a dead stop. For a moment, he holds his breath without realizing it, then exhales carefully.

He's been dreading this since Deveron.

He turns his head to the right. She sits on his bed next to him, legs crossed, head bowed, and eyes closed. Her hands rest gently in front of her.

He senses her emotions. They aren't at all what he expected. He doesn't sense anger from her anymore. Just exhaustion, in her body and her mind, especially her mind. Something's eluding her… frustrating her…

For a minute, she doesn't even acknowledge his presence. She just sits calmly with a straight back, head bowed and eyes closed. He starts to wonder if she's really there…

Eventually, she takes her hand and tentatively extends it to the cover on his bed. She presses down on it softly, then moves along feeling the thick, course fabric.

She looks up at him. Their lock eyes briefly. Then, she unfolds her legs and stands up. She looks around with a little wonder in her eyes. She walks forward, taking in her surroundings. She strolls around his quarters, looking at his washing station, his closet, his mask resting on the column, a few of his belongings scattered across his desk, every so often reaching out to touch something… just to see if she can.

He watches her, intensely uncomfortable. He is _extremely_ unaccustomed to this kind of invasion of his space.

Finally, she sits down on a chair next to his desk and looks at him from across the room.

"The Force-bond is growing stronger," she says in a calm, steady tone.

He looks back at her wordless.

She turns to his desk and dislodges a writing utensil from its stand.

Suddenly he stands up, as if he's about to march over and snatch it from her hand. But he stops himself.

She twirls it around a couple of times in her fingers.

"Months ago," she says still twirling, absently, "I couldn't do this through the Force bond. I couldn't see your surroundings, touch them, interact with them. Now I can." She looks back up at him. "And so can you."

Silence hangs thick in the air as the implications of this new development begin to sink in for both of them.

"Master Skywalker once told me the Force is an intelligence," She continues. "It's living, it thinks… and it's always working towards the same goal—achieving balance."

"I wouldn't put too much stock into what Luke has told you." He interjects coldly, taking a seat once more.

"Do you really believe that?" She asks looking into him. "Do you really believe he's wrong?" She can sense that he doesn't.

She sighs and looks away from him, curling one leg up to her chest in the chair.

"When you healed me in the cave," she starts softly. "You didn't do that by yourself. You channeled my power too; I felt it."

He doesn't challenge her. He knows she's right.

"Why is the Force doing this?" She asks, almost exasperated.

He doesn't answer her. Instead he stares off in the distance, thinking.

"Why now? Why us? Is it just us?"

"As far as I know." He says in a neutral tone, looking down.

He can feel her growing impatient with him.

"Don't these questions ever cross your mind!?" She blurts out, frustrated.

His head snaps up. "Of course they do," he says forcefully as he looks directly into her eyes. "But I don't try to answer them because it's _pointless_. The Force _is_ an intelligence… but it doesn't care if any of us understand it. It does whatever it wants, causing chaos and destroying lives through those who wield it. It's cold, inhuman. It doesn't care how it achieves its goal as long as it is achieved. I've stopped trying to make sense of it…"

She looks down, taking in his words thoughtfully. She begins to shake her head.

"That's not my experience with the Force at all," she says with conviction. "I think it seeks balance in order to make people's lives better. And our bond is part of that… The Force doing this for a reason. It means _something_. And we're meant to figure it out. Together."

He freezes. His eyes drift towards the ceiling, quickly reviewing the day's events in his mind. He can't help but let out a short, stifled laugh. What she just said… that's quite possibly the last thing he ever expected to come out of her mouth.

He turns and looks at her intently. What is she up to…?

He tries to reach into her mind, but she holds him at bay, then flings him off. She's getting better at keeping him out.

"You don't trust me?" She asks with a slight hint of sarcasm.

He breaks eye contact with her. Of course he doesn't; and she doesn't trust him. So why suggest this?

As if she senses the question in his mind, she gets up and walks over to sit next to him on his bed. Looking at him, she says with intensity, " _I am tired_ … I am tired of being ignorant. I am tired of not knowing why this power awakened inside of me and why it's growing. I'm tired of having _no clue_ whatsoever as to why we're connected. I'm just tired, Ben."

He can feel himself flinch in annoyance. He hates it when she calls him that.

She exhales heavily, looking down. Her shoulders slump.

Then, she adjusts herself on the bed to face her body towards him, and leans in closer to his face.

His upper body stiffens as he tries to ignore her hand on his thigh.

"I need your help," She says quietly.

"And why should I?" He replies, eyes narrowing.

"Because," she continues. "Maybe if we can understand it, we can start to control it." She raises a knowing eyebrow.

That's a good point.

But this is a very bad idea. _A very bad idea_ …

What other choice is there… when neither of them can stop from invading each other's space at random?

He looks back at her. He doesn't say anything, but she can feel him relenting. She draws away from him, sitting back on her feet on his bed.

"Thank you." The words barely escape before she disappears before his eyes.

He lets out a large exhale of relief. He lies back on the matt, finally allowing his mind to relax.

He has that feeling at the pit of his stomach again, the same one he had on the landing deck today.

This is not going to end well… for him. Or her.


	5. Chapter 5: Machinations

Chapter 5: Machinations

Rey walks a little more slowly than usual, looking about and taking in the activity all around her. She hasn't seen this many resistance fighters in the same place since the Rebels destroyed Starkiller base.

X-wing starfighters are lined up in rows throughout the large, gray expanse of the underground base. In between them lie loads of equipment, some tightly packed in large crates and others out and in use, strewn across the rocky floors. The room is buzzing with the noise over 150 people, at least that's the most recent headcount she heard from Lieutenant Connix. The resistance is growing… slowly, but it is growing. This isn't even all of them.

It feels good to hear activity all around her—laughter, shouting, excited chatter, hugs, and smiles. They all belong to a tight-knit community, and she is part of it. She's come a long way from her solitary life on Jakku.

Since Crait, the resistance has made a point of staying divided and mobile. It's a survival strategy, pure and simple. But for the first time since the First Order destroyed the main rebel base, General Leia has called a meeting of all high commanders, first officers, and any others involved in missions considered vital to the resistance. They've been on the defensive for months now… it's time to start mounting an offense.

She's looked forward to this day… and dreaded it. At least after the debacle on Bespin last week.

She feels a gnawing in her stomach… regret… and shame. She lets out a large sigh… how could she have been so careless? How could she let herself fail so miserably?

After Kylo Ren gave up her location on Deveron, she had contacted General Leia immediately and begged her to let her be an escort for the crystal on its way to its final, secure destination. Leia approved.

She still seethes thinking about it… how he used their Force bond to discover her whereabouts… and then, brought the First Order right to her doorstep. She shakes her head, baffled by her own naiveté. How could she have expected anything different?

Luckily, she had already handed the crystal off to the General and the small cadre of resistance fighters with her on Deveron escaped unharmed.

After that, she was determined not to let him get his hands on the artifact.

She and Chewie met up with the transport freighter carrying the crystal on one of Yavin's moons. They followed closely to a tiny rebel outpost on Bespin. It would be less than a day before the next transport arrived.

She knows she shouldn't have left… she knew it then, and she really knows it now. But her curiosity got the best of her… Chewie invited her to come with him to Cloud City to meet an old friend of Han Solo's, Lando Calrissian. He hadn't seen Lando since Han passed away. Chewie assured her Lando was an unforgettable character and would be all too happy to regale them with stories of Han's glory days. Han… she can still picture his kind eyes.

"What's the harm," she had thought, "in leaving for just an hour?"

By the time they returned, the rebel base, almost the entire port, had been destroyed by the First Order. Rey had felt her heart drop when she saw billows of black smoke coming up from the rebel transport deck… then she sensed his presence. She was too late to save the crystal, but not too late to save a man's life. At least she did that much…

Today, she must face her failure. She must listen as General Leia tells everyone that the First Order has obtained the Crystal of Aantonaii… and they have only one more artifact left. Then… no one knows what comes next.

An ominous feeling wrenches inside of her.

The resistance… they must figure out why the Knights of Ren want those artifacts. And she's their best shot.

A slight pang of guilt creeps up on Rey. She tries to dismiss it immediately.

She has no reason to feel guilty. Not about this.

He used their Force bond to get what he wanted on Deveron… but two can play at that game.

She knows that he at least partially suspects this motivated last week's request to help her understand why the Force is connecting them… the desire to probe his mind and find out what he and his Knights are up to.

But he mostly believes the reason she gave him—that she wants to understand more about the Force and why this bond exists in the first place. She knows this because she felt it. Since that day in the cave, she's grown much better at sensing his emotions, even his thoughts. If she just lets herself be still and calm in his presence, almost as if she's trying to hear his heartbeat, she can let his emotions pass through her, feeling them as he does. She's sure he can do something similar with her.

The best lies are always partial truths… Rey really would like to know more about this Force bond. Not only why it exists, but what they can do through it. Maybe things that have never been done before…

But her priority is discovering his plans for the artifacts. If she happens to learn more about the Force and their bond, that'll be a fringe benefit.

She's not so naïve as to think this isn't a dangerous plan. He's extremely powerful in the Force… and good at getting into her head. She needs to shore up her mental defenses.

In this regard, the Jedi texts have been helpful. The parts she can read have taught her a lot about Force telepathy. Just this morning, she was reviewing the section on something called "reflection." It's an ability one uses on another telepath. The Jedi must split her mind in two, as though she has two minds rather than one. One mind is the "front." It projects to the detector decoy thoughts, most often thoughts that mirror what the detector wants to hear. The other mind is the called the "underside," and conceals the Jedi's true intentions.

This is how Ben killed Snoke in the throne room.

There it is again… that pang of guilt creeping in. She tries to shake it off.

She doesn't understand why she keeps feeling this way. Yes, she's grateful Ben didn't follow his master's orders and slaughter her in cold blood. But that doesn't excuse him from rampaging through the galaxy, destroying lives and livelihoods just to get his hands on those artifacts… there must be a reckoning… he must be held accountable for his choices.

She has absolutely no reason to feel guilty. _None_.

"Rey!"

Her attention snaps to the left at the sound of her name. She looks through the crowd for a familiar face.

"Rey!"

Rose squeezes her way past a couple of pilots and runs over to her at full speed. She barely stops herself from barreling into her.

Before Rey can manage to greet her properly, she blurts out "I'm so glad I found you!" She's still out of breath. "We need to talk."

"Of course!" Rey replies. "But, where's Finn?"

"Well," Rose starts, "That's what we need to talk about. He's still in Cantonica."

"Why?" Rey asks with concern. "He was supposed to be here today. Is ok?"

"In body, yes. In spirit… that's another thing. But we think you can help. Listen, Rey…"

Before Rose can finish, they both hear Lieutenant Connix calling out to everyone from the control room. It's time to begin.

Rose's shoulders droop with disappointment.

Rey assures her, "Don't worry. Whatever it is, I'll help you. Meet me at the Falcon later today." She gestures towards her ship docked at the edge of the base.

Rose's eyes well with hope. She gives a quick, nod and swiftly disappears into the moving crowd.

Rey's smile fades as she follows along behind her, more slowly. She feels uneasy. Finn, despite his desperation to run away when she first met him, has grown to become one of the most committed resistance fighters she knows. There must be something very wrong if he's not here.

Rey enters the large, downward sloping rotunda lost in thought. She descends the stairs to take a seat near the front, where General Leia stands with several admirals around a circular computing station, talking quietly amongst one another while occasionally gesturing towards the hologram of the galaxy hovering over the table.

The General takes a look around the room and catches Rey's eyes. She smiles and nods, as Rey does in return.

Then, she moves towards the center, and the admirals fall evenly along the table on either side of her.

Leia looks out at her crowd of rebels with her signature calm, self-assurance. "Let's start with the good news," she begins confidently.

"Our ranks… _have grown_." Cheers break out across the room as she gestures to the large gathering around her with both arms.

"A few months ago, the entire resistance could fit on the Millennium Falcon. Now, Lieutenant Connix tells me we're having problems scrounging up enough beds for everybody here. If you happen to have a spare, let us know." She smiles. Then her face grows more serious as she takes a breath.

"We have over 600 volunteers who are openly fighting with us now… and many more who are fighting with us in secret. I know, I know… those numbers are nowhere near what they used to be. But I've been fighting this kind of war for a long time. And if I've learned one thing it's this: when you're facing an enemy like the First Order, one that is driven more by the desire to destroy than to create and preserve… well, they run into the same problem every time. The intelligent life forms in this galaxy don't have much in common, but an instinct for self-preservation is one rare exception. The First Order will push this galaxy too far with their destructive agenda, just like the Empire before them, and when they do… _the tides will turn_."

A rumble of low cheers and stomping feet spreads across the room.

"But we're not there yet," Leia admits. "And the truth is… I don't know how long it will take us to get there. I've made overtures to many old friends from the remnants of the New Republic… possible allies with access to important resources that we need… but only two have accepted."

Rey can sense a wave of disappointment hit those around her.

"People are still afraid," Leia continues. "Terrified of the wrath the First Order would rain down upon them should they openly rebel, still hopeful that if they keep their heads down, they can keep on living their lives much as they're used to."

The room listens in silence.

" _They're wrong_ ," Leia intones emphatically. "And when they begin to realize that, the war will really begin."

Rey feels the room relax a bit. To say that resistance morale has been low since Crait would be an understatement. But their ability to survive on just the faintest ray of hope continues to astound her… and inspire her.

"Until then, our goal is to prepare for greater battles ahead, build allies, and weaken the First Order. To that end… it's time for the bad news. It turns out that one of our own pilots… a man many of you knew as Simon from Coruscant… is a member of the Knights of Ren."

Rey hears a couple of gasps.

"As a result, the First Order has gotten their hands on the Sith artifact that we were trying to keep from them. And, according to my sources, there is only one more artifact left for them to obtain—the Darkstaff."

Rey hangs her head, still feeling the shame of her failure on Bespin.

"Now, we don't know where this artifact is, but neither does the First Order. And in a moment Admiral Tyrn will share with you how we intend to find out where it is before they do…"

"Excuse me, General," interjects Poe. "I'm all for finding this artifact so we can keep it out of the First Order's grubby hands, but there's a bigger issue at play here. Why do they want the artifacts in the first place? What's the endgame here? I mean, I just found out that for two years, _two years_ , I was friends with a pilot who turned out to be a First Order spy. Where's our spy? What's our plan for squeezing out the First Order's secrets?"

Leia hesitates and looks down.

"Poe, I hear you… and I agree with you. But the cold, hard truth is that it's much easier for the First Order to infiltrate our ranks than it is for us to infiltrate theirs."

Admiral Kalif agrees, "Finn's intel confirmed what we already knew from years of trying and failing to infiltrate the First Order. They have an extremely thorough vetting processes that include mind probes. We've learned the hard way that any attempt at espionage on the First Order ends in the death of all would-be spies. It's just not possible…"

"I can get the information we need," Rey stands up and blurts out suddenly. She feels all eyes in the room on her.

Poe looks at her, confused.

"Uh… Rey, that's really brave of you, but I'm pretty sure every single high ranking member of the First Order knows your face. You'd get tagged in a heartbeat. If we're gonna do this, it has to be someone who can slip in unnoticed…"

"I can do it," Rey, interrupts him.

"What? Slip in unnoticed?" Poe asks incredulously. "Did you not hear what I just said?"

"No, I mean I can get the information we need," Rey says confidently, looking him in the eye.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" He asks, eyebrows raised.

Rey feels everyone in the room watching her, waiting for her answer. She just stands there awkwardly, not sure what to say.

The General notices Rey's discomfort and raises a hand. "That's classified information, Poe."

"Whoa… wait. You two have already talked about this?" he asks pointing at both of them.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking," Leia replies. "And we'll talk about it more after we adjourn today." She looks directly at Rey. Rey nods at her, sheepishly, and sits down.

"Let's move on to hear what Admiral Tyrn has to tell us…"

The rest of the meeting flies by. Rey hears many reasons to be hopeful and many reasons to worry. Poe is right… they need someone on the inside.

After Leia brings the gathering to a close, the resistance fighters crowd the steps of the Rotunda, hotly debating what they just heard amongst themselves. Rey stands up to join them, but the General catches her eye and beckons her to follow. Rey does, into a small computing room nearby. When she enters, the General kindly asks the two operators inside to give her a few minutes alone with Rey. They nod, and leave the room.

The General walks to a chair in the center and slowly takes a seat. She props her elbow on the table next to her and clasps her hands lightly, then looks up at Rey.

"How are you?" She asks with a smile in her eyes.

"I'm very well. Thank you, General. And if I may, please let me take this opportunity to apologize to you again for what happened in Bespin—"

Leia raises a hand. "You've already apologized _many_ times. It's time for you to stop beating yourself up about it." She leans her head towards Rey and raises her eyebrows as if to say, "do you understand?"

Rey nods slightly and looks away.

"I have something for you," Leia says as she turns to the desk behind her and reappears with a small black pouch that she offers to Rey.

Rey takes it, unsure of what's she's receiving.

"What I just gave you contains all the known languages and scripts archived by the New Republic before its destruction."

Rey's eyes fly open with excitement. She can barely contain her instinct to run back to the Falcon and check it out right now. With this, translating the Jedi texts will be a much, _much_ easier, and more accurate, process.

"Thank you," Rey tells Leia sincerely. Would it be inappropriate to run forward and hug her? Probably.

Leia smiles up at Rey, "You're very welcome. It's my way of trying to make up for stealing your co-pilot away from you for a few weeks. It's regrettable, but I need Chewie for an important mission to Kashyyyk." Then she pauses as though she's deciding whether or not she wants to bring something up. She decides. "When I spoke to Chewie today," Leia begins again, hesitantly. "He told me that when you confronted the Knights on Bespin, you were unarmed."

Rey tries to make eye contact with her but can't seem to keep it.

" _Rey_ ," Leia's voice is gentle but full of emotion. "I admire your bravery, but you can't be so careless with your life. We need you. _I_ need you." Her eyes beseech her earnestly… Rey's not used to the General looking so vulnerable.

"I…" Rey starts, then stops. "I'm sorry, General. But it wasn't as dangerous as Chewie made it out to be, I'm sure. I wasn't there to really confront them. I was just there to distract them long enough to get our fighter out of there. I knew that I could get in and get him out alive if I moved quickly," _and I knew your son wouldn't kill me_ , she finishes the sentence in her mind.

Leia nods, accepting her answer.

"Now… let's talk about your offer in the meeting. You said that you can help us discover why the First Order wants these artifacts. And you know that infiltration into First Order ranks is next to impossible, especially for a face as recognizable as yours… so I can only assume you intend to do it through your Force bond with my son."

Rey flinches a little at the sound of these last words. She's not used to talking about the Force bond with anyone besides Ben. It feels strange, but it was inevitable the subject would come up between them again at some point. Shortly after Crait, Rey had confessed to Leia what she was experiencing. She felt especially compelled to do so when it was clear the Force bond was something much deeper than Snoke's doing. And Ben is Leia's son… she had a right to know.

Rey nods swiftly without saying anything.

Leia sighs and stares off into the distance for a few moments. She brings her right index finger to rest on her top lip as she thinks.

"I'm not going to pretend that we don't desperately need this information," Leia says forthrightly. "But… Kylo Ren is a dangerous man… and you are a very important woman, with a very special destiny. _I can feel it_."

At this, Rey looks up at Leia curiously. Leia gives her a knowing smile, but doesn't say anything else. Instead, she leans back in her chair and lets out another great sigh.

"When you connect through this Force bond," Leia begins tentatively. "Can you physically touch one another?"

"Yes," Rey replies.

"Can you hit each other, hurt each other?"

"Technically, yes, but Ben would never hurt me." Rey let the words escape her mouth without thinking. She immediately wishes she could take them back.

Leia's eyes open wide in surprise at what Rey just said… at hearing her son called by his true name… the name she gave him.

Leia leans forward closer to Rey. Her eyes narrow as she looks into her with intense curiosity. She holds her gaze for a moment, wordless. Rey wants to look away, but knows that it would be rude, and suspicious, to do so. Then, suddenly, Leia's eyebrows shoot up in recognition, and she leans back in her chair, her hand shaking slightly, eyes swimming with turbulent emotions.

She knows.

Rey looks away from Leia, looks down. She rubs her forearms together awkwardly, then hugs her arms to her chest, bringing her shoulders to her ears. She has no idea what to say.

Leia stares absently into the distance, lost in thought for a while before she sits up abruptly with a question in her eyes. She starts to speak it… then stops. She looks away from Rey, shaking her head as if she's admonishing herself.

Rey doesn't have to sense her emotions or read her mind to know what question a mother would instinctively ask about her son.

"He's…" Rey starts. Then sighs. "He's not well. He's always afraid, always paranoid… always wearing a mask, trying to conceal his emotions, suppress them… But he still thinks about you."

For a minute, both women look down at the floor with pained expressions… disappointment… sadness… longing.

Finally, Leia stands. She looks Rey directly in the eye.

"Rey, I trust you. I trust that you know what you're doing. I trust that you know how to take care of yourself. I trust that you'll always do the right thing." Leia's voice and demeanor are back to her signature style, confident and self-composed.

For a moment, a flicker of vulnerability returns in her face. "But… _be careful_."

Rey nods solemnly. Then turns to leave the room.

As she walks out the door, Leia sits slowly down in her chair again. She drums her fingers on the table, and looks out absently into nothing. Her eyes well with… hope.

 _After everything I've been through, everything I've seen_ , she muses to herself, _you'd think I would know better_.

But that tenacious spark of hope in Leia's chest burns on despite all logic or rationality.

"No one's ever really gone." Luke's words echo in her mind.

She closes her eyes and bows her head. She thinks about Rey… her compassion and her strength… she thinks about the Force… about Rey's bond with her son… and her heart overflows with gratitude.

He loves someone. That fact alone means he's not really gone.


	6. Chapter 6: Supreme Leader

Chapter 6: Supreme Leader

The First Order officer hovers just over a foot above the ground. His hands are at his neck, grasping wildly for fingers he can feel clenched tightly around his throat… and yet, nothing is there.

He's gasping for air, but to no avail. Not even the smallest inhale can make it past those clenched fingers. His heart is racing, his lungs feel like they're about to explode… he begins to feel a dull pounding in his head. Black dots blur his vision as his eyes roll to the ceiling.

In an instant, he crashes to the floor. He cries out as a sharp pain blasts through his knee cap up into his thigh. He inhales greedily with fast, short bursts, as he shifts his weight to the left, palms pushing him from the floor. He tries to stand up, awkwardly, but there's nothing around to steady himself with and his knee is still throbbing, so he remains half kneeling on the floor.

"I've waited three years for another lead on the location of the Darkstaff," Kylo Ren says evenly. "So you can understand my disappointment upon hearing your report."

"I understand… Supreme Leader," The officer manages to say between gulps of air.

"How much did the Lorridian take with him?"

"The explosion destroyed the abode's structure, but there is much debris to be sorted through. It's possible we could recover something useful—"

"Doubtful." Kylo Ren interrupts him sharply.

He's not even facing the officer now. He's glowering out the external observation portal's expansive window, hands clasped tightly behind his back. This was not the way he expected to end his day.

The officer looks down and tries to gather his composure.

Kylo turns his head towards him slightly.

"Why are you still here?" He asks in a low, agitated tone.

The officer scrambles to his feet and hobbles away.

Kylo seethes.

This was not a complicated assignment. Find the Lorridian. Take him into First Order custody. Bring him to the command ship. He couldn't send any of his knights this time. The Force-sensitive Lorridian would have sensed them coming before their ship even touched the ground. In hindsight, perhaps that was the better option over entrusting General Hux's men with anything of importance.

Suddenly, he senses Silo walk up from behind. And with him, he senses something else… _good news_.

He turns a heel to face him. Silo's face glows with satisfaction as he holds out a small black case with both hands. He slides his thumb to the side and clicks the case open. Kylo's heart quickens.

 _The Eye of the Sun_.

A small rock that could fit inside his palm is nestled in a dark cushion. At first it looks unremarkable—just a round, grey stone. Then it begins to change… the grey deepens into a thick silver and then, as though rays of light are emanating from within, the stone lightens into a golden amber. It glows steadily, with muted streams of light that seem to move in a circular motion, lighting up Kylo's face.

He takes off a glove and reaches out to touch it, very carefully, with just the tip of his middle and index fingers.

It feels warm to the touch. The streaming rays of light seem to enter his body, first at the fingertips then slowly up his arm to his heart. He feels his heartbeat slow…but he does not feel alarm. He feels a warm calm begin to overtake him as his heart continues to slow, his breath stops, and his blood feels stagnant in his veins. He stands meditating in perfect stillness.

Kylo snaps his hand away from the stone, and feels his heartbeat, his body, return to normal. He takes a sharp inhale and looks up at Silo. Their eyes meet, and the two men share a moment of genuine victory.

His knights do have a knack for getting the job done right.

Backing away and pulling his glove back on, Kylo gives a slight nod towards Silo. He understands the gesture immediately and snaps the case shut.

"This makes five," Silo says, his excitement palpable. "Five of the most powerful Jedi artifacts known to exist. And five of the most powerful Sith artifacts to match. We just need the Darkstaff—"

"And the Jedi texts," Kylo reminds him before he gets too excited. "Noghri and Veda's findings on Ahch-To are not encouraging. I'm beginning to think Luke hid them somewhere else. The hardest part is still ahead."

Silo's face becomes more neutral as he nods. "What happened with the Lorridian?"

"Don't ask." Kylo barks in response. Then his shoulders soften.

"Hux's imbeciles are searching the wreckage of the Lorridian's home now." Kylo's head gestures towards the door. "Why don't you join them and see if you can wrench something useful out of their colossal failure?"

Silo bows dutifully, but before he leaves, he steps closer to Kylo and leans his face near to his.

"I'm ready, Master— _Supreme Leader_ ," he corrects himself. "I'm ready to experience the Force as it was intended, to channel both the Dark and the Light, as you do."

Kylo endeavors to maintain his composure, to conceal his contempt.

"I know you are," he replies quietly. Then turns away to resume gazing out the window.

He hears Silo's footsteps die away as he briskly leaves the room.

 _He has no idea what he wishes for_ , Kylo thinks to himself. He's lived Snoke's vision, like his grandfather before him. And it's not the utopia of power and control his knights imagine.

His grandfather… conceived by the Force itself. In possession the highest midi-chlorian count ever recorded. The Chosen One. For centuries, the Jedi claimed that once one started down the Dark path, forever would it dominate your destiny. They were wrong. His grandfather proved that the day of the Battle of Endor, the day the Empire collapsed. His stunning and unexpected return to the Light…

What most don't know… what Sidious knew… what Snoke knew… what Dagon knew… is that Anakin never fully surrendered to the darkness. He kept the Light inside of him, buried for all those years, drawing upon it whenever he wished. A true dual-wielder of the Force. The first.

Kylo can still hear Snoke's raspy, imperious voice in his head— "Why place your power in shackles? Why limit what you can accomplish through the Force?" He disagreed with the Sith Lords. He didn't believe in the purity of the Dark Side… he only believed in power. And to him, it was ridiculous to limit the power one could draw upon from the Force. Sure, the Dark Side was by far the more powerful aspect, but the Light was certainly not without valuable enhancements… in healing, empathy, heightened senses, stealth, protection. As long as one could practice these skills without falling into the worst excesses of the Light— compassion, love, sentiment—the Light Side could be harnessed without much deleterious effect. Gaining strength from calm, pursuing greater wisdom… these things grant abilities through the Force that anger and pain cannot.

But no Jedi or Sith has ever been powerful enough to draw from both aspects of the Force at once. At least, not until his grandfather. And him.

When he was born, Snoke saw a golden opportunity before him, one that would never come again. A boy with Anakin's power… the potential to wield both the Dark and the Light… but also young and vulnerable… a blank slate for him to write upon.

Kylo remembers Snoke in his dreams, almost even before he has memories. He was just a dark figure hiding in the corner of his mind, a whisper in his ear… and as Leia and Luke nurtured the Light in him, so Snoke nurtured the darkness.

It granted him power, yes. Unimaginable power. But also pain. Unspeakable pain. Like the core of a reactor suspended mid-explosion, hanging heavy in his soul, pulling him apart at the seams. Perpetual conflict becomes a natural state. The pull from one side to the other always growing more extreme… Snoke feared that his vision would fall to pieces if Kylo drifted too far into the Light… far enough to repeat his grandfather's failure, giving over to sentiment.

The best way to avoid a repeat of the past was to kill it, and usher in a new age of the Force, one where there would be no Jedi or Sith. No Light Side or Dark Side. Only the Force, or at least the parts of it Snoke found useful. Wipe the Jedi clean from the galaxy's memory. Reform the Sith. Create an elite team of dual wielders—the Knights of Ren—to bring this vision into being, to usher in an age where the only understanding of the Force is the one Snoke designed.

But only Kylo Ren is powerful enough to command both aspects of the Force. For the other knights to join him, they would need help, a cache of incredible power to draw from.

The artifacts. Each imbued with centuries of power from their respective aspect, Jedi or Sith. Snoke believed it was possible to gather the most powerful Force artifacts in the galaxy… and to merge them… six Sith and six Jedi artifacts… infused into six crystals that would contain the power of both… six crystals for six knights.

 _If they only knew._

If the knights only knew what this new ability would bring them, they would not be so eager to perform the ritual. They will all become victims of the Force's turbulence… its corruption… more so than they already are.

His thoughts drift to Rey… how she obtained the Crystal of Aantonaii… by channeling Dark energy. He shakes his head.

If she continues along this path, she will become a twisted remnant of her former self.

 _But he's not going to let that happen._

A familiar feeling creeps upon him. He stiffens, instinctively. He needs to clear his mind.

It still startles him every time. One second, he's alone, lost in his thoughts. The next, he can sense her presence.

She's standing beside him, much as he is— hands clasped behind her, shoulders resting down her back. It's almost as though she was expecting him.

She turns her head and looks up at him with calm self-possession. Then she looks around the room… it's empty. People tend to avoid this room when he's here, if they can help it.

For a minute, she gazes out at the window with him.

"So this is what the Supreme Leader does with his time," she says finally. "Tough job."

He narrows his eyes at her. "It's a tad more complicated than it appears," he says sardonically.

"Really?" she replies. "Because right now it appears like you just stand around waiting for underlings to report to you."

His eyes darken. He doesn't have to take this.

Abruptly, he turns a heel and walks out of the room. He's never left during their Force connection before. He can only assume that she'll just disappear.

He strides briskly through the hallways of the First Order command ship, sidestepping MSE droids wandering blindly along their routes. The First Order officer who delivered the report from earlier catches his eye and walks over to him with a slight hobble.

"Supreme Leader, I'm so happy to report that we may have recovered something useful from the wreckage of the Lorridian's home. Scribblings that mention the Darkstaff—

Suddenly, a cold panic washes over Kylo Ren.

He had assumed incorrectly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Rey listening, enraptured in their conversation.

"—several possible locations it could be, including—"

" _Stop_!" Roars Kylo, his hand extending out towards the officer.

Suddenly, the man can't speak, or move. He can barely breathe. _Please_ , the thinks, _not this again…_

A moment later, Kylo releases his hold on the man, who breathes a sigh of relief. The officer doesn't seem to perceive Rey standing near him at all.

"We'll discuss this later." the words escape his mouth as a low hiss. He turns quickly and grabs Rey's upper arm, pulling her back in front of him. He grips both of her arms as he pushes her forward, back to the empty observation portal.

" _Easy!"_ She complains, but doesn't put up much of a fight.

After the automatic door closes behind them, he releases her and takes a few steps forward, bringing his palm to his eyes for a moment then letting it drop over his face to his chin. He turns to look at Rey. She has a strange look in her eyes—both pleased and shocked.

She can't contain her smile. "This is incredible. _It's insane_. It's like every time it grows just a little bit stronger. Here! I have an idea." She looks down at her clothing for a second, then rips a button from a pocket in her pants.

"Here you go." She extends an open palm towards him with the button. "Take this." She looks down at the button and then up at him again. " _Go on._ Take it."

Cautiously, he reaches out. She turns her palm and lets the button slide into his gloved hand.

"Now, you give me something," she commands.

"What?" He looks at her suspiciously.

" _Anything._ It's a test. To see if we can exchange physical objects through the bond. _Come on._ It doesn't have to be big. It can be something small."

He considers this for a moment, then slips off a glove and hands it to her. She reaches out to take it, then folds it and slips it into a pocket.

He turns towards the window again. A minute passes.

"What were you thinking of just before?" she asks suddenly.

"Before what?" he replies.

"Before I appeared here," she gestures around her.

"I can't remember."

She eyes him doubtfully. "Maybe there's a pattern, something that triggers the Force bond, something in our heads…" she trails off.

"Perhaps it's whenever we think of each other?" He suggests.

She immediately shakes her head. "No. Definitely no. Not possible."

"You think about me that much, do you?" He can't stop the corner of his mouth from turning up as he glances over at her.

She blushes. " _No_. That's not what I meant."

He lets out a grunt. That's exactly what she meant. He can sense her lies as clear as day. Which means she can sense his too… he begins to stiffen.

"I think we need to institute a rule," he begins, "to stay out of one another's heads." He turns his body to face her.

She turns to face him as well, looking up at him incredulously. " _Really_? What a wonderful idea. I could swear I suggested a similar rule the first time we met at Starkiller base."

He remembers that day for a moment… the first time he looked into her mind and saw something very familiar. Something very relatable.

"It doesn't matter who comes up with the rule as long as we both respect it."

"I don't think I can," Rey replies.

"Why not?' He demands, eyebrows knitting together.

"Because… I don't think you can either. I think… I think the line between telepathy and empathy is beginning to blur, for us at least," she says.

She continues, "When I'm standing near others, I can sense their emotions—disappointment, anger, sadness. Emotions, but not thoughts. Not unless I consciously try to enter their minds. But with you, I sense emotions and more… specific things. Questions. Reservations. Fears. Not anything deep, but thoughts just on the surface of your consciousness. I think I can't help but read your mind."

And he can't help but read hers. Like right now… Apprehension, she's worried about what he might sense in her… Compassion, for him, for living a life consumed by fear…, Guilt, for what she knows she has to do.

He looks at her sharply. She breaks eye contact and turns, taking a few steps back. His eyes follow her, warily…

"Ben,"

"Don't call me that," he snaps without thinking.

Rey sighs. "You said something to me on the Falcon a few weeks ago. You said the Force would tear me apart if I'm not careful. What did you mean by that?"

He takes a deep breath, trying to quiet his mind. He remembers the way they Eye of the Sun felt when he touched it… then a gentle stillness overtakes his body.

"I meant that you need to stay away from the artifacts. They're powerful and they're dangerous, especially for a novice in the Force. A few are even sentient… they will control your mind if you're not careful. _Or worse_. Like the Darkstaff. _Don't_ try to go after it, Rey."

"That advice is awfully convenient for you," she responds.

They stand silently for a few moments.

Then, tentatively, she asks, "How… how do you know?"

"Know what?"

She hesitates. She can't bring herself to say it.

He senses her question. It slips right from her consciousness into his.

"How do you know when you're channeling the Dark Side of the Force?" he finishes for her.

She looks up at him with a guarded expression.

"You know it by the emotion and by the way your body feels. The Dark Side draws upon hatred, anger, fear, pain… so it tends to burn hot, like a fire in your belly—agitating, gnawing, a perpetual torment— but not uncontrollable, not if you channel it correctly. That's the hard part. It's easy to tap into, but it's much more difficult to control."

"And the Light?" She asks.

He eyes her warily. "You already know the answer to that question."

Why did she ask him that? Why is she asking these questions? What is she looking for?

He can't stop the pang of fear that quickly rushes upon him. He turns away from the window and walks to the door, trying to quiet his mind once more. _This is too dangerous_.

But he can't leave. Not until she's gone. He turns towards her again.

She's still gazing out the window, her hands now on the glass.

"I don't know how you do it," she says softly.

"Do what?" he asks, repressing a hint of alarm.

"Live your life behind a mask," she turns towards him. "Always hiding something from everyone around you, secret plans, intentions, instincts, so-called weak emotions." She takes a few steps towards him, looking up at him intensely. "Aren't you tired?"

The question catches him off guard.

She senses his answer wash over her. An emphatic yes.

 _Pity_ … he feels it emanating from her. He doesn't need that. Or want it.

He turns to walk away again but, impulsively, she reaches out to take his ungloved hand.

He looks down at her with surprise. She keeps a steady gaze as she gently pulls him closer to her. There's much more than pity in her eyes.

The memory is right on the edge of her consciousness. He picks it up easily.

 _You're not alone_

 _Neither are you_

She squeezes his hand. He lifts his other hand and brushes a tendril of hair back from her face. He lets it linger, his thumb at her cheek, before sliding it slowly down her face. His hand rests on her shoulder, thumb tracing the curve of her jaw, fingers curled behind her neck. He leans down… and rests his forehead on top of her head. They both close their eyes and breathe peacefully.

They stand together just like this. As they do, everything seems to melt away… time, their mutual suspicion, their fears and doubts… everything except for the compassion they feel for one another.

Then the warmth of her body disappears, as if she dissolved into a mist.

He opens his eyes. The room is empty and quiet. He takes a deep breath, walking towards the window… longing weighing heavily inside him. He looks down at his ungloved hand for a moment… then turns to exit.

He walks briskly towards his quarters to retrieve another glove. Then he'll see what the officer has to tell him about the remains of the Lorridian's home.

If they can obtain the Darkstaff… then only the Jedi texts will remain.

Suddenly, he remembers something.

He reaches into his pocket, searching, then finds it. He pulls his hand out and looks down.

Rey's button rests in the middle of his palm.

 **NOTE: This chapter deviates from the Star Wars cannon universe. As far as I know, the idea that Anakin was the first person to draw from both the Light and the Dark aspect of the Force at once (or even did so at all) is not recognized as cannon.**

 **Also, my story does not recognize the existence of the Grey Jedi. In Star Wars cannon, the Grey Jedi were Force wielders who drew from both the Light and the Dark aspect without completely falling into darkness. But there are a lot of other Reylo fanfics out there that recognize and explore the Grey Jedi so be sure to check those out!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Spark

Chapter 7: The Spark

Streams of bluish-white light fly by her, seemingly through her. There's almost too much brightness for her eyes to take in at once, but she doesn't dare close them. She loves this… the way the shining bursts of light seem to create patterns before her, forming and then un-forming just as quickly.

In an instant, the beauty of hyperspace is gone, replaced by dim twinkles in the great blackness and her destination looming ahead. A large brown planet, its mostly light, ruddy colors occasionally deepening into chestnut… Cantonica.

A desert planet, not dissimilar from Jakku. The difference being, of course, that Jakku is not home to one of the most luxurious casinos in the galaxy.

Canto Bight.

Finn and Rose have been on this planet for months now. They designed their own mission. General Leia simply gave her approval. Something about this place changed Finn… after Crait, she heard the story. They had only been on the planet for a few hours looking for some master codebreaker, but it had been quite an adventure. Got arrested. Broke free. Escaped with a herd of fathiers, riding one of them (she was jealous of that one). But something else had happened too… something between the lines.

Finn and Rose were adamant about returning. "For every rich high roller visiting the planet there are ten slaves trapped there for life," Finn had told the General. "You say the galaxy needs hope, that hope is how we'll take down the First Order… well this place needs hope most of all." Their plan was simple. Quietly minister to the slaves on the planet… make sure they have access to basic necessities, provide medical care when their masters would not, talk to them, get to know them, organize them.

The report Rose gave to Resistance leaders a couple weeks ago had been glowing and confident. They had managed to help many slaves escape and establish hidden villages for them in desert. But they weren't just hiding out… they were planning. Rose assured the General that a slave rebellion on the planet was brewing… and if it came to fruition, then the planet could soon serve as an important base of operations for the Resistance.

To Rey, Rose had revealed something else. Finn had befriended a boy, a very special boy. Rose told her the boy demonstrated incredible Force abilities. Once, when Finn was injured trying to help a slave escape the casino, the boy had run up to him… and healed him completely.

A boy. With no knowledge of the Jedi other than legends and stories. A nobody, just like her. A nobody who performed a Force ability Maz told her is one of the most difficult to master, an ability Rey has yet to learn herself.

Rose was very clear. Rey must come to Cantonica and meet this boy, and not only because Finn can't seem to free him from his master. Though that's a pressing reason as well. According to Rose, Finn refuses to leave the planet until the boy is free. He's developed a bond with him. Rose tells her he thinks of the boy as a brother, perhaps even a son.

She couldn't come immediately. The General needed her help searching for the Darkstaff. Not that they are any closer to finding it. What little information she'd been able to skim through the Force bond lead to nowhere… a Lorridian in Corellia, a self-inflicted explosion that destroyed him and his home. By the time they got there, the First Order had taken everything worth taking.

Spying for the Resistance through the Force bond had proven more difficult than she anticipated. Last time, he was determined to keep her out of his head. She couldn't pierce past the surface of his consciousness, those half thoughts and emotions that quickly come and go in the moment. What little she had picked up made no sense… an amber stone like a small sun, six crystals, the Darkstaff as a living thing, fear of her involvement, dual wielding?

Not that their meeting had been completely useless. She discovered new abilities through the bond. The ability to roam his location without him next to her. The ability to exchange physical objects. His glove is still laying on a table in the Falcon's lounge. She keeps meaning to tuck it away… somewhere out of sight.

Rey sighs. She doesn't want to think about him right now. She's tired of thinking about him. Him and his secret plans. This mission is a welcome distraction.

The Falcon slows as it descends from the clouds over the jagged, rocky surface of the planet. It's not far… she's nearing the coordinates Rose gave her. Just on the outskirts of Canto Bight. There it is… a couple of ships and makeshift hovels arranged in a circle. She finds an open spot to land.

As the Falcon's ramp lowers, Rey descends slowly, looking around her for signs of Finn and Rose. A couple of locals kneeling over a wash bin eye her warily then turn their attention back to their work. A spattering others—humans and non-humans—scurry about the circle, focused on their business. There is very little said between them. It's eerily quiet… no one seems to really notice her presence.

Out of nowhere, she feels a hand grip hers and jerk her forward.

"Finn!" He's pulling her along at a near run. He barely takes the time to look back at her.

"Great to see you, Rey!" He says breathlessly.

He's rushing her towards one of the ships. For a second, it feels like they're back on Jakku, when they first met, him squeezing her hand and jerking her along.

"Finn, _slow down_ … What's the hurry?"

"Sorry, Rey, but we don't have much time," he explains as he pulls her up the ramp of the ship. He leads her swiftly to a chair with its back facing a washing basin. He practically pushes her onto it.

"I'm _so_ glad you're here." He says with a hint of urgency and relief, crouching down and finally taking the time to look her in the eyes. It doesn't last long. He quickly begins scanning her body, like he's a droid analyzing her vitals.

Suddenly, Rose emerges as an automatic door whirs open. She runs over to Rey and gives her a tight hug and an "it's so good to see you!" before she begins yanking at her hair, pulling out her buns.

" _Hey_!" Rey protests. "What are you doing? What's going on?"

"When's the last time you had a bath?" Finn looks up at her.

"Yesterday, I think… why does that matter?" Rey asks with confusion.

"She smells fine to me," says Rose, tilting Rey's head back over the washing basin, pouring water over her hair.

"Whoa… wait. Can one of you please explain to me what's going on?"

"Don't worry, Rey," Finn gives her a cursory look as he fumbles through a small pouch. "Rose is going to do your hair…"

"What?"

"I'm going to do your make-up…"

" _What_!?"

"And I'm going to need you to put on this dress."

As Rose applies some sort of serum and begins vigorously scratching her head, Rey catches sight of the billowing red fabric Finn is holding in the corner of her eye.

"That's not a dress. That's a slip." She says flatly. Suddenly Rose jerks her head back a bit, lathering furiously.

" _It's a dress_!" Finn assures her. "It's what all the fancy tourist ladies wear around here."

"And why do I need to dress like a fancy tourist lady?" Rey asks, trying to fight Rose and crane her neck upwards to look at Finn. Rose jerks her head back down and starts to rinse.

"Because," Finn begins as he scrubs her face with a washcloth, "Master Kayvon is leaving today, I mean _really_ leaving. For good."

"It's the slave rebellion," Rose says with pride, looking up briefly from her work. "The top dogs in this town are tucking tail and running before things boil over. Everyone can feel it's about to happen."

"Who's Master Kayvon?" Rey's starting to get delirious with everything that's going on around her.

" _Jian's owner_ ," Finn says with exasperation, as if she should already know.

"Jian's the boy I told you about," Rose explains, as she begins toweling her hair dry.

"This guy… Kayvon… he's a real piece of work," Finn tells Rey as he rubs some cool white cream on her face. "Seriously, I've been trying to buy Jian for months. _Months_. But that wrinkly pile of flesh refuses to sell him to me. _Absolutely refuses_."

Now he's rubbing some waxy substance on her lips.

"And what kills me," he continues, "is that no matter who I send over to buy Jian, he knows it's me! He has some random grudge against me…"

"Random!?" Rose snorts as she interrupts.

Finn rolls his eyes and shakes his head in slight acknowledgement. "Ok, maybe it's not so random… but he just won't let that go! This is Jian's life we're talking about! Over some stupid lost fathiers! Besides, he doesn't deserve to own any animals if he's going to abuse them like he does."

Rose is brushing Rey's hair now, brushing it back into one tight bun atop her head.

"Close your eyes," Finn commands. He starts brushing something over her eyelids.

"This is why I need you, Rey," Finn starts again. "Nobody knows you here. Nobody's seen you with me. Kayvon will just think you're one of the high rollers passing through for a visit." She can feel Finn rubbing something just under her eyebrows.

"Ok, open your eyes." Finn comes at her right eye with some sort of stick. She winces and pulls back. "It's eyeliner, Rey! Not a weapon!" Finn exclaims.

"So, we were kinda hoping you might use one of your Jedi mind tricks to convince Kayvon to sell him to you," Rose tells Rey.

"Yeah," Finn agrees, "and if that doesn't work…" he suddenly pulls back and looks Rey dead in the eyes. "You're going to have to use your feminine wiles."

Rey looks back at him incredulously. " _But I don't have wiles_!"

"Oh sure you do, Rey," Finn says dismissively. "All you have to do is put on this dress and these shoes." He drops a pair of leather, black boots with a slight shimmer and a floral pattern etched along each side.

Finn finally stands up and back to look at her. Rose joins him.

"Perfect. She's perfect," they both say, looking at each other and nodding in approval.

"Alright," Finn says, handing the dress to her. "Just put this on really quickly and meet us outside." Both he and Rose rush out of the ship before she can reply.

For a moment, Rey sits in silence, dumbfounded. Then she turns to look in the mirror behind her. Her lips are red and there is a slight shadow over her eyes. Her hair looks darker and thicker somehow, pulled up into a glossy bun. Strange…

She looks down at the dress, then holds it up in front of her to get a better look at it. She rolls her eyes. This thing has no sleeves _whatsoever_. How is it supposed to stay up?

"Hurry!" She hears Finn's voice call urgently from outside the ship.

Rey gives a great sigh. Then she begins to undress.

A few minutes later, she descends the ship's ramp. The dress is tight along her torso and begins to flow just at her hips all the way down to her ankles. There's a slit on the right side that reaches more than halfway up her thigh. She tugs at the dress to try to close the opening, to no avail.

She follows briskly behind Finn and Rose as they lead her towards the city. She suppresses the urge to hold her hands over her chest to cover the top of her breasts peaking out over the dress. Couldn't Finn have found something more conservative…?

She crouches next to them as they hide behind a large boulder.

"There," Finn points forward towards a large deck with several tall columns aligning it. A few casino patrons stroll languidly along, chattering aimlessly. "Right down that long hallway." Finn points. "That's where you'll find Kayvon."

He adjusts his crouched body to face her. He hands her a small purse, heavy with coins. "Ok, here's the plan. Stroll in there almost like you're lost. Then strike up a conversation. He _loves_ talking to pretty girls, so that part won't be hard. Tell him you just arrived, but your servants have been delayed and you have no one unload your ship, clean your clothes, etc. Then ask him if he has any scampers available for purchase."

"Scampers?" Rey inquires.

"Yeah, that's what they call the slave kids here," Finn says with contempt in his voice. "He has three. Ask for all of them. If you just ask for Jian, he'll be suspicious. You got it?"

Rey nods a bit nervously. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Then, she stands tall and begins walking towards the deck.

She quickly surveys her surroundings, particularly focusing on the women she sees. She tries to affect their mannerisms—shoulders resting lightly back, nose imperiously half-lifted in the air, exaggerating the swing of her hips as she walks.

She begins to walk down the long, stone hallway, through rows of columns decorated with floral vines wrapped around them. She walks slowly, casually… as though she just taking a stroll. Inside, her heart is beating much faster than normal. But outside, she looks calm and composed, neck straight and regal.

She wanders through a large arch at the end of the hallway. She hears a low, raspy voice barking orders. "No, not that one, you fool! Get the other one! Bring it to me!"

As she turns the corner, she finds herself face to face with a creature that looks astonishingly like Unkar Plutt back on Jakku. A Crolute with thick layers of skin hanging from his arms and chin, Kayvon turns towards the unexpected intruder, purple robes swaying around his ankles.

He eyes Rey with appreciation. "Welcome, my lovely guest. How can I help you?"

Rey endeavors to keep her composure, to look casual, bored even.

"Oh… my apologies," she says softly. She turns to leave.

" _My dear_ … but you just got here!" Kayvon strides towards her, one hand extending out. "Please, may I offer you something to drink?"

Rey pretends to consider his offer for a moment. Then she shrugs her shoulders slightly. "I suppose there's no harm in a drink."

Kayvon grins, revealing a set of crooked, half rotten teeth. Luckily, Rey has much practice at concealing disgust from leering Crolutes. She smiles back at him, taking his hand. He leads her to a large chair with a plush cushion. As she sits, she fights the urge to tug at her dress and close the slit on the right side. Kayvon does not bother to hide his ogling, eyes lingering on her chest then sliding down to her bare leg. Rey suppresses an eyeroll.

She looks around her. "It looks like you won't be here for long," she gestures to the crates stacked all around her, some open and half full with odds and ends poking out of them. "How long was your stay?"

Kayvon chuckles as he hands her a bubbly, green drink in a tall glass. "My dear, I've been here for many years. I own a herd of fathiers for the races, or at least I did," his eyes darken. "This place is deteriorating quickly… the collapse of the rule of law around here has turned it into a third-rate establishment if you ask me."

Rey raises an eyebrow. "That's a shame. I must say, even though I've only been here a few hours, I can't disagree with you. I can't find a single master with half decent scampers to sell me." She takes a sip of her drink. She swallows with no small amount of effort. It's disgusting.

Kayvon nods his head in agreement. "People around here have forgotten how to keep their slaves in order. That's why I'm leaving. Going to a place where the rule of law is respected and _enforced_."

Rey turns her head slightly towards him, but doesn't look at him. She looks around, trying to seem bored. "Hmmm… so I suppose you can't help me acquire scampers either, can you?"

" _Now_ ," he intones deeply. "I didn't say that. It just so happens that I am the proud owner of the three most well behaved, hardest working scampers in all of Canto Bight," he boasts. "I can't sell you all of them because I still need service once I reach my destination. But I'd be willing to sell you the girl." Suddenly, he whistles and barks "Kala!"

A girl no older than seven comes barreling out from a nook in the room, her curly red hair hanging in front of her face. She is very skinny and very dirty. Her eyes are downcast, trained on the floor.

"See… what did I tell you. The most obedient scampers in Canto Bight. And for only 50 Druggats," Kayvon nods towards her purse.

Rey sighs heavily, pretending to consider his offer. She looks over at the girl, then looks away. "The truth is, I prefer boys," She says.

"Of course you do," Kayvon replies. "But I can't give up my boys. I'll need them when I get to Coruscant."

Rey lets out a light laugh. "Coruscant?! You're taking these dirty little cretins into the biggest, most sophisticated city in the galaxy!?" She shakes her head, snickering.

"What?" Kayvon leans in with a little alarm.

"Oh, it's just that I'm from Coruscant, and I know the people there, especially the elites." She giggles again. "I would just love to be there when they see these skinny, corpse-like scampers serving them drinks in your home."

Kayvon's eyes knit together. "Well, of course I won't use them to serve guests. I'll keep them out of sight. Use them only for menial tasks."

Rey laughs again and shakes her head. "My dear," she starts, " _nothing_ stays hidden on Coruscant. It won't take long for your acquaintances to know you brought desert rats into their beautiful city."

She can feel Kayvon growing agitated.

"Well I'm not one to obsess over public opinion," he scoffs, sitting back. But he appears concerned, lost in thought.

Rey smirks inwardly. Who needs wiles when you have wits?

"Well, it's _your_ reputation." Rey shrugs. She sets her drink on the table and gets up. "I would say that I might run into you there, but…" She lets her voice trail off, and looks away, as if she's already embarrassed to be seen with him.

She can feel him getting more and more worried.

"Thank you for the drink," she says without looking at him, then walks towards the exit.

"Wait!" She can hear him get up and scuttle after her.

She turns slowly, lazily catching his gaze. He eyes her pouch. "How much do you have in there?" he inquires.

"More than enough." She responds.

His eyes darken with doubt.

Rey lets a calm stillness overtake her. She looks deep into Kayvon's eyes with a gentle intensity. She does not break her gaze.

"It's more than enough." She says again, reaching into his mind.

"It's more than enough," Kayvon agrees robotically. He turns and lets out another whistle. "Jian! Bran!"

Two boys scuttle out from seemingly nowhere. One has long, black curly hair tousled messily about his head. The other has straight mouse-brown hair with chubby cheeks.

"Meet your new master," he growls at them. He turns to Rey. "Now I suppose it's you who will have to explain to your friends why you have these mud bugs serving you."

Rey throws her head back and scoffs. "Oh, I won't be taking them with me," she assures him. "I'll sell them off before I leave." She hands him her purse and turns to exit the room.

"Go on, now. Follow her!" She hears Kayvon bark one last order at the children. She walks back down the expansive hallway, hearing the pattering of little feet on the floor behind her. She looks back to check on them. They're heads are bowed, eyes downcast. She feels their fear and uncertainty. She picks up her pace a little.

Rey emerges onto the deck and heads back towards the boulder where she left Finn and Rose.

Suddenly, she sees Finn's head pop up.

Immediately, one of the little boys jets past her at a full run. Finn begins racing towards him. When they meet, he tucks his hands under the boy's arms, lifting him up high in the air and spinning in circles, grinning up at him. He gingerly places him back on the ground and crouches down, taking him into his arms and holding him tight. Tears are streaming down Finn's face. Rose looks on with teary eyes as well.

"You're free. You're free, Jian," he keeps telling him. "What did I tell you, huh?" he asks, pulling back from the boy. "I'm gonna get you outta here, right?"

"Right," the boy smiles, and brings his forehead to rest on Finn's. They both gaze at each other for a few seconds, overjoyed.

Finally, Finn pulls back and looks up at Rey. His eyes are overflowing with gratitude. He stands and gently takes the boy's hand, guiding him towards her.

"Jian," Finn says softly, crouching back down when he gets to Rey. Rey crouches with them. "I want you to meet someone very special. This is Rey. The girl I told you about. She's like you, Jian. She has abilities."

The boy, previously looking down shyly at the ground, snaps his head up to look at her with wide eyes. She smiles at him.

"Hello, Jian," says Rey. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She extends a hand out, palm facing upwards, before him. He looks down at her palm and then back up to Finn, as though he's asking permission.

"Go on," Finn nudges him gently.

The boy turns to look at Rey. His eyes are bit guarded, but he still reaches out to take her hand.

His soft skin touches hers.

She feels it immediately. The power of the Force rising within her like she's never felt it before. It seems to lift her off the ground… she feels weightless. Her heart swells. A deep, aching compassion fills her…

Her head tilts back slightly. She looks around her. She's not next to Finn and the boy anymore. She's in a dark cellar somewhere. She hears faint crying behind her. She turns to see a little girl with dark black locks huddled on the floor, knees to her chest. She holds her arm close and rocks gently. She's injured… the scene changes. This time she's in a forest. The air is hot and thick around her. She jumps at the sound of a loud crack. She turns just in time to see a heavy whip land a blow on a man's back. He yelps in pain.

"Set them free…" a voice whispers in her ear.

The scene changes again. She sees a mother on her knees, crying up to a man, a First Order officer, holding her baby by the scruff of his neck. "Don't hurt him, please!" the woman is begging, tears streaming down her face. The officer looks down at her with contempt, kicking her in the gut. He turns to fling the baby behind him.

"Set them free…"

The scene changes again. She is in a dark, cramped place. A freighter, maybe? It's moving. All around her, men, women, and children are packed so tightly together they can hardly move. The smell is unbearable. She hears soft crying all around her.

"Set them free…"

The scene changes once more. This time, she seems to be inside of a volcano. Molten lava shoots up beside her. The air is stultifying. She has trouble breathing. She looks just ahead… and she sees him. Standing between two rows of short, rocky columns. He's facing her. He's yelling something indistinguishable… he looks angry and desperate. She tries to make out a few of the items on the columns… a black sphere, the Crystal of Aantonaii, a small stone, and… a stack of something? Suddenly, he begins charging towards her menacingly. She tries to run away but she's frozen in fear.

She's not in the volcano any more. Bright streams of light are shooting all around her, as if she's traveling through hyperspace. She feels it again… the weightlessness. She seems to be suspended in midair. The Force flows through her as the light dances all around. She's never felt it so strongly before… _never_. She fills it lifting her higher, higher… so much power. She doesn't even try to control it. She just experiences it, letting it course in and around her, all throughout her.

Suddenly, the light around her turns to black. She is still suspended in the air. She curls her body into the fetal position and closes her eyes, floating. There is nothing but a pure, calm stillness around her.

Then she hears it… a voice barely above a whisper.

"You are the Living Word. And when the time is right, you will know what to do."

Rey's eyes fly open. She's back on Canto Bight, back in front of Finn and the boy. They are both staring at her with knitted brows.

"Hey, Rey, are you ok?" Finn's hand rests on her shoulder. She sits back on the ground, unable to speak. She looks to the boy. He looks back at her with curiosity.

She sits up on her knees and gazes at him intently. "Thank you," the words escape her mouth breathlessly.

She rises slowly, still a bit unsteady. She can feel Rose and Finn's concern for her.

"I'm fine," she says without looking at them. "But I need to go back to the Falcon for a little while. I'll see you later tonight."

She rushes away without waiting for them to respond. The suns are beginning to set… it's dusk now.

She makes her way down the rocky hills back towards the circled encampment, thoughts racing.

Since the General gave Rey data containing the New Republic's linguistic archives, she's been learning a lot more from the Jedi texts. She's translated passages on all kinds of information… the early years of the Jedi, the formation of the Sith, Force abilities she's never heard of—like blinding, stealth, and projection. She still hasn't translated anything on healing yet, a skill she desperately wants to try to learn, but she's finding that with practice, determination and a little help from Maz Kanata, she can pick up new Force abilities almost naturally. Her body and her mind take to channeling the Force like she's been doing it her whole life.

"Trust your instincts, child," Maz told her the last time they spoke. "There is a time for book learning to end. The words on the page will only take you so far. Reflection, experience, intuition… they will take you the rest of the way."

These words echo in her mind as she thinks about what she just felt when that little boy touched her hand. She can't exactly explain how… but she feels like she learned more about the Force from the vision Jian just gave her than in the weeks she's spent pouring over the Jedi texts. The books can teach her skills and history… but the vision she just had communicated something much deeper. If the Force can be understood as an intelligence, then the vision seemed to invite her into the Force's mind, showing her its thoughts and desires, its current preoccupations as it continues to work towards its ultimate goal, its reason for being— the never-ending pursuit of a balance always just out of reach.

 _You are the Living Word._

She has no idea whatsoever what that means. She hasn't translated any references to a "Living Word" in the Jedi texts. But she did recently translate something else. About an ancient prophecy… The Chosen One. Something about that boy reminded her of it.

She needs to re-read that passage, to remember exactly what it says. She knows the conventional wisdom… Maz told her that Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader to many, was the Chosen One. But her instincts, her intuition… wat she just felt with Jian. Maybe the conventional wisdom is wrong.

She swiftly ascends the Falcon's ramp and closes it behind her. She walks over to the trap door on the Falcon and squats down, lifting it.

Suddenly, the trap door drops shut as she sits up erect. He's here. She feels his gaze on her back.

She pivots and turns to look behind her.

He's standing a few paces ahead, staring with his head slightly cocked to the side. She turns to fully face him, sitting back on her feet on the floor.

They lock eyes, wordless for a few seconds. Why is he looking at her so strangely…?

Oh… _the dress._

She looks down at herself and back up at him again, shaking her head. "Don't ask."

He raises his eyebrows for a moment, then begins to walk around the lounge, taking in his surroundings. He picks up his glove laying on a table, then puts it back down.

"Do you still have my button?" She asks.

He looks slightly towards her and nods. He continues to walk, looking around. He's making her nervous… she's remembering what happened the last time he showed up on the Falcon.

"I'm on Cantonica," she blurts out. He turns towards her. She stands. He looks her up and down.

"I'm not here for the Darkstaff," she assures him. He'll sense that she's telling the truth. "I'm just here to help some friends. There's no reason for the First Order to come here." As the words escape her, she pushes a certain piece of information back in the depths of her mind… the brewing slave rebellion. She can't think of a reason he would care about that, but someone else in the First Order's ranks might.

He nods, slightly, and resumes his walk around the lounge. _What is he doing?_

She lets herself be still to sense his emotions, his thoughts… he's… lost in memories. Of a life long ago. He stops as he looks down at a bed in the corner. She sees the image in his mind. A young boy, head resting on Han Solo's chest, Han's arms wrapped around him. They're both half asleep, eyes closed. Han reaches out to tousle the boy's hair. "Rascal…" he whispers.

Ben stands, just staring down at the bed. Her heart hurts… she can feel how much his is aching.

A sudden clatter above snaps both of them out of the trance. He looks back at her. "What was that?"

She shrugs. "Porgs."

He knits his eyebrows together as if to say " _Really_?" Then he resumes his walk around the lounge.

She watches him quietly, curiously.

"Actually… I'm glad you're here," Rey finally says. She walks over to take seat nearby and looks up at him. He stops moving and turns to face her.

"What do you know about the prophecy of the Chosen One?" She inquires. She can sense him stiffen as she asks the question.

He takes a breath. "Why do you ask?" He's trying to conceal alarm. She didn't realize this question would trigger his paranoia. Then again, most things trigger his paranoia…

"I met a boy today… a very special boy. He's strong in the Force." At this, she can feel his interest piquing. He walks towards her.

For a moment, a white panic washes over Rey. What if she shouldn't be telling him this…? Sensing her fear, he assures her, "I have more important things to do than capture Force-sensitive little boys."

She relaxes a little. "Ben," she feels him flinch inwardly at the name, "this boy has absolutely no training, but a few weeks ago he healed my friend."

"Did the healing stick?" he asks. The question catches her of guard. She didn't know it was possible for it not too.

"My friend is still alive and completely whole," she answers. He sits next to her and leans forward, forearms resting on his knees.

"So… the Chosen One," she continues. "He's supposed to be a person with incredible Force power, correct? Enough power to bring balance to the Force."

He looks over at her and nods. "So… what's the nature of this balance? What does it mean to 'bring balance to the Force?'" She looks up at him.

She looks back down immediately, cheeks burning. She feels the blush spread down her neck and chest.

He is not thinking about their conversation _at all_. For the first time, she really wishes she couldn't read his thoughts. She endeavors to compose herself, to pretend that she doesn't know what he's thinking about. But she can't stop blushing… He's still looking down the front of her dress.

She takes a breath. A few more seconds pass.

" _Ben_ …" she says with a hint of annoyance.

He looks away from her. "What was the question again?" He asks.

She sighs. "What does it mean to truly bring balance to the Force?"

"The Jedi interpreted the prophecy to mean that the Chosen One would destroy the Sith once and for all," he answers.

"Ok… the last Sith lord is no more, thanks to your grandfather. So, I guess the Force is already balanced?" Even as she asks the question she instinctively feels the answer in her heart. The prophecy must still be unfulfilled… this galaxy, in its current state, is anything but balanced.

"What do you think?" She looks up at him again. "Do you think the prophecy has already been fulfilled?" Their eyes lock.

 _Aaaand_ … he's not thinking about their conversation again.

She turns away abruptly, blushes renewing. She's not going to learn anything from him if his mind keeps getting distracted. Without looking at him, she points to the left. "Will you please hand me that jacket?" She asks.

He gets up and walks over to where she's pointing. He removes the jacket from its hook and walks back to her. His arm extends towards her with the jacket hanging off his index and middle fingers. He looks her up and down a final time.

"I like your dress," he compliments her.

"I'm aware." She blushes again as she takes the jacket from him and quickly puts it on, wrapping it around her body. She turns slightly away from him and he retakes his seat next to her. For a second, they both struggle to suppress a smile.

"So…" she begins again. "What do you think? Has the prophecy been fulfilled?"

He doesn't answer her. He looks out into nothing… considering. She can feel his uncertainty… of how to answer her. She's onto something. She can feel it. These questions make him very uncomfortable.

"I don't know," he lies.

He thinks the prophecy is unfulfilled too. Why does he even bother trying to lie to her?

He stands up abruptly and walks away. He sighs, exasperated. She can feel his exhaustion—He's tired of trying to keep her out of his head.

Rey gets up and walks over to the trap door on the Falcon. She lifts it and drops inside the space below the floor.

Ben looks on, curiously.

She crawls back up with the metal case where she keeps the Jedi texts. She wants to show him the exact wording of the prophecy as she's translated it… it mentions nothing about destroying the Sith.

She sets the case on the table, then presses a thumb to unlock it. He's walking up behind her, eyeing the case. It opens, revealing its contents.

Immediately, she feels a storm of emotions from behind rip through her all at once. He feels excitement, relief, anticipation, fear, guilt… the emotions rage as he desperately tries to contain them. She turns a heel to face him. What is going on…?

He takes a step back as she catches his gaze. His emotions are still turbulent. He's struggling to suppress them.

For the first time in quite a while, she's able to probe the depths of his mind. He can't stop her. His guard is down.

To her surprise, she sees the same image she saw earlier in the vision Jian gave her. The volcano. The bursts of lava. Him… Ben…. standing between the rocky columns. This time, his head is bowed and his back is to her.

She focuses her attention to the items on the columns. On the first row, she sees the Crystal of Aantonaii, a black sphere, a staff… on the other, she sees a small stone, then—

Suddenly it's like she's flying through hyperspace without a ship, a blinding brightness all around her. She sees an image off in the distance… it grows closer, closer… It's a tree. A giant, towering tree. Its leaves are… strange. They're black and drooping, almost as if they're dead. The trunk is massive and knotted. It looks dead too… and yet strangely vibrant at the same time. A vibrant, living darkness.

Finally, he pushes her out of his head with a force that knocks her back. He's backing away from her, breathing heavily, eyes wide and afraid. He looks exactly like he did the first time she probed his mind on Starkiller base.

She looks at him in confusion. He looks back at her in panic.

Then in an instant, he's gone.

She stands, leaning back on the table behind her, still trying to process what just happened. _What did just happen?_

She turns to face the table and leans over, resting her palms on it.

What on earth triggered that? He is usually much better at containing his emotions, keeping her out of his head. What destroyed his mental guard so suddenly?

The Chosen One.

That must be it. Her questions really got to him. She could sense it from the moment she began asking him. She's accidentally stumbled upon something central to his plans… but she's not sure how. Every time she sees him, she discovers a new piece to the puzzle. His intentions with the Sith artifacts. But she still can't see the whole picture. Not yet.

That tree though… she felt its significance to him. It's where the Darkstaff is hidden.

She turns abruptly, looking around. She needs to get this information to the General immediately. The race is on… he'll try to get there before she does. She must discover where this tree is located. _Now_.

Where is that commlink?

As she searches, she sees his glove on the table. She walks over to pick it up, holding it for a moment, feeling the thickness of the fabric.

Then she puts it in the case with the Jedi texts and locks it.


	8. Chapter 8: Darkstaff

Chapter 8: Darkstaff

Streams of rain pour down the front of Kylo Ren's mask.

The earth below his boots is wet but firm. His thick black robes hang heavy, soaked through.

A crack of lightening briefly illuminates the scene before him. The rocky, uneven terrain stretches out in front of a massive tree towering above, the trunk as wide as a TIE fighter, black, oily and twisted. It's moving. Or at least it seems to, thick roots squirming like snakes on the ground, slithering up into the tree, trunk throbbing with dark energy.

All six of his knights are kneeling in a wide circle around him on the perimeter of the tree, heads bowed and chanting in an ancient language. The Old Tongue. Sith.

 _Chirikyât_

 _Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj_

 _Chirikyât_

 _Hadzuska koshûjontû Vexok savaka._

The words seem to come from not many voices but one. One omnipresent voice, filling the air around him.

As they speak the words again and again, Kylo Ren feels the Dark Side of the Force surging through him with an intensity he's never felt before. He's soaked through with rain and yet he feels on fire. He should be in agony, flesh boiling with white hot pain, but he's not. He's strong and steady with a calm like the eye of a storm inside him.

He's ready for this.

In some ways, he's been preparing for this moment his whole life. From first the day Snoke stole into his mind and planted a seed of darkness. The first of many.

The Jedi talk about the Dark Side as though it were a cop out, the quick and easy path as opposed to their labored but more rewarding one. _Fools._ They speak about a power they've never tried to wield, a power they don't understand.

The Dark Side is easy enough to draw from, but once it enters you… it is corrosive. That part is unavoidable. But what can be controlled is how rapidly the corrosion spreads, how deeply it infects. And the power one can harvest from the source of the corrosion—the greed, anger, hatred, aggression. And fear. For those who can channel the intensity of these emotions without allowing themselves to be crippled by them, there awaits power that is almost inconceivable.

Most don't make it that far. The darkness consumes them, kills them.

But Kylo Ren has been channeling the darkness for many years now and he's not dead yet. Not even close. Just the opposite. His Life Force is strong. His body is strong. His mind more unbreakable than ever.

He is still corroded… in his spirit. But his bloodline grants him an incredible degree of endurance when it comes to channeling the Force in either aspect, the Dark and the Light.

And he will need all of it today. The advantage of his bloodline… his years of training under Snoke… because today he will do something precious few Sith have been able to do.

Today, he will call the Darkstaff to him.

He is not so stupid as to not be afraid. Fear is a necessary ally in the task that lies ahead. If the past is any teacher… the moment one stops fearing the Darkstaff is the moment one loses control of it.

The Darkstaff is best understood as a living thing. A personality. It has a will. Like the Force, it is an intelligence, except instead of seeking balance it seeks destruction. It can communicate with sentient beings in their minds, seducing them, drawing them into its web of deceit. It is the ultimate deceiver. It will project thoughts into the mind of its host, thoughts to make them believe what it needs them to believe in order to achieve its ends.

Resisting its attempts to control his mind will not be easy. But Kylo Ren won't have to touch it for long. Just long enough to retrieve it and then to immediately lock it away. Its case is prepared just behind him. Straight into his hand, straight into the case, straight onto the command ship and into the First Order archives.

He can do this.

It could be worse. When touched by one who is practiced in channeling the Dark Side of the Force, the Darkstaff will simply attempt to use him as a vassal. But when touched by one who is only powerful in the Light aspect… the Darkstaff will seek to snuff the light out.

He _needs_ to do this. He needs to do this before she gets here.

He's under no illusions. He knows the consequences of their last meeting. It was regrettable, but necessary. He made the best decision he could have made in the shock of the moment. He truly had no idea that she was in possession of the Jedi texts. Once he found out, he could not control his reaction. She took advantage of this weakness, probing deep enough into his mind to begin to see his intentions with the artifacts, to see that he needs what she has… the only way to redirect her was to show her something else she wanted.

He has the First Order watching every inch of this planet, both ground and aerial patrols. But in a way, this is worse. It means she'll try to sneak in alone.

That's only a problem if she gets here before he can finish. And she's not here now. If she were, he would undoubtedly sense it. So far, so good… but he must hurry.

 _Chirikyât_

 _Taka zeech ma toka duuwaj_

 _Chirikyât_

 _Hadzuska koshûjontû Vexok savaka._

He closes his eyes inside his mask. He concentrates on the chanting, the words…

He feels the Darkstaff calling to him deep from within the tree. The trunk twists and squirms.

Slowly, he extends his right arm towards it, fingers taut and ready. He breathes in, stoking the fire inside him. As he exhales, his arm begins to shake uncontrollably. Quickly, he straightens his back and concentrates on the fire, the pain… his muscles harden and the shaking stops.

He feels himself stretching out through the Force to touch the tree, oily, twisting, knotting, pulsing. He pushes through the thick, serpentine outer layer of the trunk deep inside, reaching for the core.

Then he feels it, sliding across the tip of his middle finger… the great darkness. His gloved fingers creep and crawl their way around it.

A cold force jerks him back.

 _Wo Zayin Tsyok Nun?_

(Who are you to claim me?)

A hissing voice asks the question in his mind.

 _I am Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren. Lord of Darkness_ , he answers in turn.

 _'Ari anjat Odojinya? Nu kahru lur shu yin._

(Lord of Darkness? I sense Light in you.)

 _You sense Power_ , he projects the reply forcefully into the depths of the tree, into the Darkstaff's mind. 

_NNNNNN… Nu kahru midwan. Châts midwan. Tok Qyâsik. Ni shâsot. Ni saarai._

(Yes… I sense Power. Incomparable Power. The Force. My struggle/passion. My truth.)

 _My Power is yours… but only once you let me claim you._

 _Tyro Tsyok Nun._

(Then claim me)

The sound of hissing rises inside his mind. A thousand serpent tongues strike out into his thoughts, his emotions… they invade his consciousness like vines climbing up a tree. He wraps his hands more tightly around the Darkstaff and begins to pull it towards him with the Force.

He still stands several paces in front of the tree, arm extended towards the trunk. The knights are still chanting, heads bowed, all around him.

He feels a dull ache between his eyes. The Darkstaff… it's not wasting any time worming its way into his mind, searching for a weakness, a foothold for control.

Kylo Ren braces inwardly, slowing the Darkstaff's progress into his consciousness. He pulls it closer to him… his eyes are closed and yet he can still see it begin to emerge from the tree, sliding past the slick, twisting outer layer of the trunk.

The knights begin to chant more loudly. They can sense it too. The Darkstaff is emerging…

The snaking, writhing trunk of the tree slakes back into place as the Darkstaff exits, floating a few feet above the ground, slowly making its way towards Kylo Ren's outstretched hand.

The fire in his chest consumes him with gnawing pain. Tendrils of the Darkstaff's will still wrap their way around the corners of his mind, digging deeper.

 _Closer. Closer it comes._

He will have it soon. He will finish this.

Suddenly, the chanting around him grows noticeably fainter. To his right, two of his knights have stopped repeating the words.

His eyes fly open and he turns towards them sharply. What could possibly break their focus at the crucial moment?

Their heads are not bowed. They are looking behind him, the opposite direction of the tree. He follows their gaze.

 _Rey._

How is this possible? How could he have not sensed her presence before now?

She stands several paces ahead of them, feet firmly planted, back straight, shoulders down, eyes trained directly on him. It's as if she's oblivious to the rain pouring over her body.

Before Kylo can say anything, Veda's lightsaber crackles to life. So does Silo's. They begin striding menacingly towards Rey.

Cold panic washes over Kylo Ren. Of all the ways this could have gone, this is a nightmare scenario.

Suddenly, he feels the Darkstaff retreating back to the tree. He turns sharply to face it, gripping it firmly once more through the Force.

He closes his eyes to sense what's going on around him, behind him. Four of his knights—Mei, Thulu, Noghri, and Baal—are still kneeling, heads bowed and chanting, though distracted. Veda and Silo are almost to Rey, who still stands unarmed and unmoving.

A second later, he feels a surge of confusion from the knights behind him. But he doesn't turn around… he keeps his focus on the Darkstaff just ahead.

A few seconds later, and _all_ of his knights cease chanting. He opens his eyes. Rey is standing directly in front of him now, right before the trunk of the tree, the Darkstaff suspended in the air between them. _How did she move from behind to in front of him so quickly?_

He struggles not to lose focus, to keep his tight grip on the Darkstaff… but he can feel it loosening.

 _Rey… don't touch it, Rey_ , he projects the thought into her mind as his intense gaze bears down on her from within his mask.

 _This is not a game… DO NOT touch the Darkstaff._

Did she just smirk at him _!?_

Mei and Thulu's lightsabers crackle to life. They both begin to charge at Rey.

She just stands there, staring him down as they race closer. He feels his heartbeat quicken. What is she doing?

Just as the knights reach her, she disappears into thin air. Mei and Thulu ram into one another, knocking each other back onto the wet earth.

"There! She's over there!" Kylo hears Noghri cry to his left. He can't take his eyes off the Darkstaff… he's too close to the end now…

There is chaos all around him. His knights charge to the left, then halt when they hear Veda cry, "No! Over there!" As he sees Baal and Thulu run in front of him to the other side, lightsabers drawn, Rey appears again in front of him, but slightly to the side. Silo charges towards her, but halts, slipping, when she disappears again.

Force projection. She's making copies of herself. A lesser feat than Luke's on Crait, but still an exceedingly difficult skill to master. She seems to pick up Force abilities like she does languages.

He focuses on the Darkstaff. He needs to. It's so close… no more than three feet from his outstretched hand.

Suddenly, he hears her cry out behind him. His instinct is to whip around, but he stops himself just in time.

That's not Rey… that's the Darkstaff. Trying to distract him. Trying to break his focus long enough to complete its domination of his mind.

Kylo Ren is panting heavily through his mask. His fingers… it's just out of reach.

Explosions of electricity crackle just to the right of him. The real Rey has unsheathed her weapon, and she's fighting no less than three of his knights, soon to be four. He sees the image out of the corner of his eye… Rey is wielding Mei's old doubled-sided lightsaber. She's high in the air, a foot over Noghri's head, knees tucked into her chest, right arm extended with the saber above her head. As she descends, she kicks both feet hard into Veda's chest, knocking her back and to the ground, disarming her.

Both Noghri and Rey spin around to face each other. Noghri brings his arm overhead and begins to strike down upon Rey. Rey rears back, elbow bent, then thrusts her saber towards his body for a strike. Just before she hits him, she ducks unexpectedly stepping to the side. Still ducked, she pivots, turning swiftly to face Baal behind her. As she brings one side of her saber up to meet Baal's crashing down upon her, the other side grazes and burns the front of Noghri's knees. He yowls in pain as he falls to the ground.

He can almost touch it… it's right here. He stretches out his right arm, straining his shoulder. The tips of his gloved hand touch it. He feels his fingers slide along the side of it. They begin to wrap around the back.

A bare arm extends down from above him. His eyes drift upward as small, ungloved fingers grip the Darkstaff. Rey is mid back flip, vertical in the air. In a second, she's behind him, taking the Darkstaff with her, landing lightly on her feet. She breaks into a run.

Time seems to slow as all six of his knights launch after her. He turns as they all speed by him. She's sprinting across the long, rocky plateau, full energy thrusting her forward several paces ahead of the knights.

Her feet pound one after the other on the wet ground as she grips the Darkstaff, slicing through the heavy rain.

Then he sees it. The knights do too. She begins to slow down.

Kylo Ren's heart drops. _I told you not to touch it, Rey_

She slips a little, but still thrusts forward with all her might.

The knights begin to let off, slowing from a full run to brisk strides.

She slips again. This time she falls, free palm landing hard on the sharp rocks below. They cut deep into her hand. She pushes herself up, struggling and tripping as she tries to dash forward. She slips again.

The knights slow to a downright stroll. They switch off their lightsabers.

Kylo Ren switches his on. He steps forward briskly to join them.

She's on her knees now, facing the ground. She's gasping for air… but finds that very little enters her lungs. She's still gripping the Darkstaff.

The knights part as Kylo Ren walks between them then close the gap behind him. Rey is soaked and retching on the ground a few feet ahead of them. They approach her at a leisurely pace.

They stop just before her. She's released the Darkstaff now. It lays on the ground next to her. She's on her knees, one palm on the ground, one at her heart as she takes fast, sharp gasps. Rain pours over her body.

 _KILL HER!_ Kylo hears Mei's voice project into his mind.

He takes a step towards Rey, looking down over her.

 _Kill her, NOW!_ He hears Mei again. He feels a chorus of anticipation behind him.

Rey falls to her side and rolls over to face him. Her palms are propping her up, arms slightly behind her body. Her knees are bent and she's kicking into the earth with her heels, trying to scoot back from him. She looks up into his masked face.

Her eyes are full of terror and confusion. She's disoriented. Tears stream down her cheeks, mixing with the rain.

 _KILL HER!_ Mei grows impatient.

Another sharp rock slices Rey's palm as she tries to back away. She falls to her elbows. His fiery lightsaber hums above her. Her eyes reflect its red glow as she continues to gaze up at him.

Mei's lightsaber crackles to life. She lunges towards Rey for a killing blow. The saber shoots towards her chest…

And is caught by Kylo Ren's from below. He steps in front of Mei with a forceful, upward thrust of his lightsaber, then pushes her backwards. She stumbles a bit, but then ducks down and lunges again towards Rey, attempting to side step him. He catches Mei's upper arm, gripping it tightly, then flings her back.

She flies into Thulu, nearly knocking him down as she falls to the wet ground, sliding backwards, her lightsaber clattering out of her hand.

For a moment, all of the knights look at him, their disbelief palpable.

Baal switches his lightsaber on. He circles around to attack Rey from the side.

Kylo Force-slams him several feet back. He does the same to Noghri and Veda as the launch towards him.

Both Thulu and Silo charge towards him as well, lightsabers drawn. Kylo's saber shoots up and catches Thulu's. With his other hand, he grabs Silo by the neck and casts him to the side. With the strong flick of his saber, he disarms Thulu. Thulu backs away from Kylo, uncertain.

Baal races towards Kylo from the side. Kylo turns to catch him. Their lightsabers lock. Kylo swiftly gives a clean, hard kick to the center of Baal's chest. He staggers back, falling to the ground, but then gets up and charges again.

Kylo strikes with precision, severing Baal's hand from his body. He cries out, dropping to his knees, clasping his wrist with his remaining hand.

At this, all of the knights charge towards Kylo at once. A fury of red and blue electricity lights up the dark, rainy night as Kylo fends off five attackers. They are surrounding him, but Kylo is still at the advantage. He channels the rage welling up inside him, enhancing his speed, strength, and reflexes. He swings rapidly— to the right, to the left, below, above—and precisely, fending off strikes coming from all angles. He's kicking and slashing and grabbing, one knight flying forward, another knight flying back.

As he Force-slams knights away from him, they get up and charge at him again. Kylo begins to lose patience. Hatred burns in his belly as he extends an arm towards three knights running towards him. Crackling bolts of lightning shoot from his fingertips directly into the chests of the charging knights. They double over in pain as the lightening emanating from Kylo's fingers wracks their bodies, tormenting them. The other knights watch on in horror.

After a minute, he releases his victims from their anguish. They lie on the wet ground, gasping for air.

The other knights watch him silently—Mei, Baal, and Silo.

Rey is gone. Nowhere to be seen.

He looks out to where he last saw her. The Darkstaff still lies on the wet, rocky earth. He strides over to it, then stoops down to retrieve it.

The serpents resume their course through his mind as he grips the Darkstaff, walking towards the case waiting near the tree. He switches off his lightsaber. Then he leans down before the case and clicks it open, placing the Darkstaff inside. As he releases his grip, he feels himself regain complete control of his mind.

He stands, case in hand. He turns and walks in the direction of the Upsilon command shuttle nearby.

"TRAITOR!"

He hears Mei's voice, unmasked, call out behind him. She switches on her lightsaber and comes running at him again. Again, he draws upon the hatred burning hot in his belly as he turns; Bursts of lightening shoot from his fingers to consume Mei's body, crippling her in a second.

He lets her feel the intensity of his rage for a minute before he releases her.

He looks down at her dispassionately. "I explicitly ordered you," he begins with an eerie calm. He looks up at the rest of the knights, who are staring at him dumbfounded. "I explicitly ordered all of you _not_ to touch the girl. And you disobeyed me."

He looks over at Baal. "The next time that happens… you will all lose much more than a hand." He spits the words out, voice deep and distorted by his mask. He turns to resume his walk to the shuttle.

"Why?" He hears Silo ask. "Why can't we touch the girl?"

Kylo turns a heel abruptly to face him.

"Because," his rage simmers just beneath the calm in his voice, "the girl has the Jedi texts in her possession. I can retrieve them from her… as long as she doesn't suspect me. And as long as she's still alive."

He feels this revelation wash over the knights. It doesn't excuse what he's done to them. But it does explain it.

Once again, Kylo turns away from the knights and marches towards the shuttle.

They don't follow him.

He grips the case, the only thing that keeps this entire day from being an unmitigated disaster.

There's a few ways things could go from here.

Mei could convince the knights to mutiny and overthrow him, instituting herself as the Master. They will try to kill him. _Try._ If they succeed, they'll have control of the First Order.

But they won't have their crystals. Their precious crystals that grant them enhanced Force power, the ability to see their great prophecy come to fruition.

So instead, Mei may plan a delayed mutiny, after the ritual, the one only Kylo Ren can perform. After that, they may try to kill him then and there…

Or maybe Mei will do none of those things. Maybe Mei will find, as he has, that the knights are a petulant, selfish lot that are individually gifted but incapable of truly serving something greater than themselves. Maybe she'll snap out of her fanaticism long enough to see that Snoke's vision was flawed and was always going to end like this… with the knights fighting each other.

Maybe.

The truth is it doesn't matter. He doesn't really need the knights any more, now that he has the Darkstaff. And he can obtain the Jedi texts by himself.

Still… it would have been better if he didn't have to go into this with six more enemies than he had yesterday. And powerful ones at that.

And it's all because she wouldn't listen to him.

He told her to stay away from the artifacts. He told her to stay away from the Darkstaff. He told her not to touch it.

But she doesn't trust him.

And he can't blame her. Of course she doesn't. They both want the same thing for this galaxy—order and balance—but they have very different ideas about how this should be achieved. They've known that since Takodana.

But at the very least, can't she have faith in him? Faith in… _She knows_. She knows that he loves her. So can't she have faith in the knowledge that he would do anything to make sure she survives all of this?

Apparently not.

He boards the Upsilon shuttle, finally getting a reprieve from the rain. A Stormtrooper begins to take the case from him, but one sharp turn of Kylo's masked head scares him away. The ship's ramp closes behind him.

He heads straight to the cockpit to oversee takeoff.

He continues his thoughts.

Sometimes he wishes he could tell her everything, about all of this. The artifacts—both the Sith and the Jedi. The Jedi texts. Why he needs them. What he plans to do with him. How he's only doing all of this to fulfill his destiny and bring true balance to the Force… to save the galaxy, to save her.

He's imagined telling her before in his mind. He's imagined her listening intently, asking questions. It's very possible she would understand…

And it's very possible she would not.

In the end, he can't afford the risk. If she doesn't understand, she'll be all the more equipped to stop him. And he very much doesn't want Rey to be there the day he needs to fulfill his calling… and not just because he doesn't want to hurt her. Rey is powerful in ways that still mystify him. He'd rather deal with fifty knights than one Rey.

No, trying to convince her to help him is a lost cause. She's already turned him down once.

Besides, this is his responsibility. His birthright. As the Chosen One.

Kylo Ren sighs heavily.

He is powerful, but corroded in his spirit. Stretched, frayed, and broken. The Force has ripped his soul limb from limb. He felt that fighting his knights today more than he's ever felt it before. And it's only going to get worse… for him. For Rey. For the whole galaxy.

There's only one way he can help them. There's only one way he can help her, to keep her from a fate like his.

He just needs her to stay out of his way.


	9. Chapter 9: The Fire

Chapter 9: The Fire

" _Watch out!_ "

Blaster fire whizzes by less than a foot in front of Rey. She's crouched behind an overturned landcruiser. She fights the urge to peek out again at their attackers ahead.

She leans back against the cruiser and rests the hilt of her blaster on her cheek. She brings her commlink up to her lips.

"How many more are there?"

Crackles, and then silence.

"About twenty," Jor's voice reemerges, panting.

"And you're sure there's only one way in?" She double checks with him.

"Rey, this dome _was built_ to keep slaves inside of it. Yes, I'm sure."

She brings her index finger to her lip for a moment, thinking.

"How much time do we have?" She asks.

"I don't know… I… based on my sensors I'd say we have about three and half minutes before the bomb goes off. And I'm going to need at least thirty seconds to diffuse it."

For a second, the comm goes dead.

"Rey," Jor's voice breaks through again, sounding heavy, "I think… I really hate to say this… but I think… it may be time for us to pull out."

Rey exhales sharply. She hangs her neck, resting her forehead on the back of her hand.

She snaps back up and brings the comm to her lips. "In thirty seconds, I want you to run for that door."

"Rey," Jor responds with a tinge of alarm, "I don't want to see all those people die any more than you do, but there's no point in sacrificing our lives for nothing. There's four of us and twenty of them. There's no way any one of us can get to that door without being blown to pieces."

"Thirty seconds, then go for it," she tells him again.

She places her blaster on the ground beside her, and unhooks her lightsaber from her waist.

She switches it on and it crackles to life, one side glowing blue and one side glowing red. She likes this one… feels more like a quarterstaff.

She stands and bursts out from behind the cruiser, charging towards her attackers, deflecting blaster fire with her saber, dodging it, weaving around it. It's if she can feel every individual plasma shot leave its weapon and fly towards her on its course, a course she can sense almost without trying.

She leaps up to the large deck surrounding the outer rim of the dome. It's meant to be an open deck, for leisurely strolling, but it's been crudely fortified with junk, whatever's laying around it seems—metal crates, tables, sleeping pads.

There are eleven on her right and seven on her left. All eyes are on her, all blaster fire on her, as she descends from the air onto the deck.

She lands with both feet, still deflecting blaster fire, twirling her lightsaber all around her. With a wave of a hand, she casts the crude barricade on the edge of the deck towards the right, crashing it into oncoming slavers, knocking many of them back and down.

She turns and begins swinging and slashing precisely, disarming the slavers to her left by whatever means necessary, even if that means taking a few limbs. She turns to the right briefly, Force-slamming an onslaught of would-be attackers back.

She continues her progress to the left. Three standing now. One's running away. She Force-commands the weapons out of the hands of the two remaining slavers, casting them to the side. They back away, terrified. With one quick, fluid movement of her arm, she flings both men over the deck and out into the night.

To the right again. She cuts off the hand of an attacker just in front of her, another to the side of her.

She leaps over the head of another oncoming attacker, positioning herself in the center of the men left standing. Her lightsaber spins all around her— below, overhead. She disarms swiftly and methodically. She Force-slams a cadre of attackers back. She casts another over the barricaded rails.

A couple more run away, racing along the circular curve of the deck. One left standing. He looks scared and desperate but points his blaster towards her anyway. Before he can pull the trigger, Rey holds out her arm, palm extended, and releases a flash of white light that bursts out all around her. The slaver screams and falls to his knees, covering his eyes, yelling in the local language, " _I'm blind! I'm blind!_ "

A few slavers on the ground around her reach out for a weapon with their remaining limb. In one motion of her outstretched hand, she lifts all of the blasters on the deck a few feet off the ground, then clenches her fist and disables them. The slavers who can still see look up at her with wide eyes.

She turns around and brings her comm to her lips. "Jor, what's your status? Is the bomb disabled?"

No response. Several seconds pass.

"Rey…" Jor's voice comes in distorted at first. "Rey… affirmative. The bomb is disabled." She hears someone cheer in the background. She lets out a big exhale.

"Hey Rey," Jor continues on the other end of the comm.

"Yeah."

"I'm really glad that you're on _our_ side."

Rey looks down and smiles. "That makes two of us." She looks down at the slavers on the ground around her. "What do you want me to do with the hostiles?"

"We've got reinforcements from the Free army coming in ten minutes," he answers. "I'm sending Hala and Rose up. When they get there, come down here and see me, ok?"

"Got it," Rey replies. She lets out another big exhale and stretches her shoulders down and back. It's been a crazy two weeks.

It's been an incredible two weeks. General Leia was right. _The tides have turned_ in this war. Though not in the way many expected.

As it turns out, Rey had arrived in Cantonica just in time for the slave rebellion. At that point, it felt like an inevitable judgement upon the luxurious but cruel leisure industry on the planet. What did not feel inevitable… what no one expected… was how swiftly and how far the flames of rebellion would spread.

Slavery was illegal under the New Republic, though it persisted in some Outer Rim territories like Cantonica. When the First Order began to rise, the old Empire slave traders sensed a change… this new power wasn't interested in enforcing laws against slavery in the systems under its control. Oh how quickly and easily the slave trades on these planets reemerged…

Rey bets the First Order regrets its decision to turn a blind eye to the slave trade now.

Once news of the slave rebellion on Cantonica got out, the dominoes began to fall. Other rebellions cropped up like wildfire across slave trading planets in the Outer Rim. It quickly spread to more populated systems like Dressellian and Xan. Then the unthinkable… it reached the Core Worlds. Corellia. Kuat. Coruscant. All of these systems have witnessed slave rebellions of some kind, some larger than others.

This whole mess has thrown a big wrench in the First Order's efforts to solidify its control of the galaxy. And as if the chaos of the slave rebellions wasn't enough to handle by itself, it turns out these former slaves have inspired another kind of rebellion as well…

The Resistance's ranks have swelled since the uprising on Cantonica. After it quickly moved to offer support to the revolting slaves across the galaxy, the Resistance developed a reputation as the one that sparked the rebellion in the first place. Many former slaves are now all too happy to pledge their lives to fight for the Resistance. And they've shown others what large, organized numbers can accomplish against the First Order.

The old allies of the New Republic are beginning to fall in line behind General Leia. This is a rare opportunity… a moment of weakness for the First Order. There will never be a better time to strike.

This is all the more reason why the First Order should be moving forward with its plan for the Sith artifacts. Whatever it is… it's sure to give them a great advantage in the fight. The Darkstaff was the last one. They're sitting on raw power, the six most ancient, Force-imbued Sith objects in the galaxy. And yet, as far as the Resistance can tell, there's been no change. They've been monitoring the planet of Mustafar, the location of Darth Vader's old stronghold and almost certainly the volcanic world Rey keeps seeing in her visions and dreams, but so far they've detected nothing out of the ordinary. The artifacts are all still locked away in the First Order archives.

 _What is he waiting for?_

While he sits on his thumbs, an army of nobodies is ripping his precious galactic order to shreds.

As Rey descends the ladder into the core of the massive dome, the scene around her jerks her out of her thoughts. It is simply one large room, a wide expanse of dirt floor and platforms. It's packed with people—slaves—skinny and hollow-eyed. The old. The young. The very young. They all look dirty, exhausted, and weak with a look of desperate yearning in their eyes. She knows that look—hunger. These people haven't eaten in days.

When it became inevitable that the slave rebellion on this planet would overthrow them, the slavers diverted the Free army then took all of the slaves still under their control—many children and spouses of Free army combatants—and herded them into the Dome, the place where slaves are bought and sold. The plan, apparently, was to blow themselves up with the slaves as a final revenge against their treacherous former property.

Rey shakes her head as she eyes a girl no older than five huddled in the corner. She's holding something close to her chest… a baby. These past two weeks have been eye opening for Rey. She had no idea such depths of suffering existed across this galaxy. She'd lead a hard life on Jakku, but at least she had her independence and her dignity. Now she finds she was lucky to even have that.

What she has seen these past two weeks is her vision from the little Force-sensitive boy, Jian, come to life—children locked away and forgotten. Bodies used and abused until they break. People packed like things in the secret hollows of a freighter. And the more she sees, the more she dreams… turbulent dreams. Anything but restful. Dreams of suffering and pain. More images like those Jian gave her, of beings trapped and desperate. And whispers, hushed voices in the back of her mind…"You are the Living Word. And you will set them free."

She's confounded as to what it means. After she first touched the boy on Cantonica, she thought the vision was showing her that he was the Chosen One, a powerful Force-sensitive destined to bring true balance to the Force. But the dreams… the dreams told her otherwise. "The boy is just a sign," the whispers echoed in her mind. "You are the Living Word. And when the time is right, you will know what to do."

None of it makes any sense. None of it. The vision. The dreams. "The Living Word." The Force bond with Ben. Why the Force is awakening in random nobodies like herself and Jian. Do either of them even have any midiclorians? Rey has no way of finding out.

And she has no idea how all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together. All she knows is that ever since she met Jian, ever since the slave rebellion broke out in Cantonica, she's felt a deep calling to show the broken and neglected beings in this galaxy that they are not powerless. She wants to inspire them. If a Jakku scavenger who comes from nothing can rise to become a powerful, Force-wielding Jedi, then what possibilities might be open for them?

"Rey!"

Jor's deep voice snaps her out of her thoughts. He's standing with someone she doesn't recognize, a Free army fighter probably. He quickly finishes his discussion with the man and turns towards her.

"Firstly," he begins, "thank you for what you did tonight. Thank you for persuading me not to pull out. There are many Free army fighters who are going to see their children and spouses again because of you."

She bows her head and nods, embarrassed by the praise.

"Secondly, get out of here."

Rey balks in surprise. "Excuse me."

"You heard me. _Get out of here_ ," Jor repeats with emphasis. "Rose just told me you haven't slept in thirty-six hours."

"Oh, she's exaggerating—"

"No, she's not," Jor cuts her off. "I can practically smell the exhaustion on you. And you've developed a reputation for skipping out on sleep."

"Have you been talking to Poe?" Rey demands.

"Doesn't matter," he responds, not even looking at her now. "Get out of here. Go back to that little piece of junk freighter you have stashed right outside this town, and get some sleep."

"But the slaves!" Rey protests. "These people… you need help getting them out of here, getting them back to their families…"

"The Free army will be here in less than ten minutes. Then I'll have all the help I need."

"But—" she starts.

" _No._ Sleep. Now." Jor points at the ladder she just came down.

Rey sighs and turns away. She knows exactly where sleep will lead her…more dreams, more images of suffering, more cryptic whispers. She'd rather stay awake all night and help the suffering than go to sleep and dream about them. But she must admit that her energy is quite spent…

Rey climbs up the ladder to the deck and makes her way to another makeshift ladder recently propped against the deck's railing. She climbs down and walks back to the cruiser she was hiding behind earlier to pick up her blaster.

It's dark and the outpost is quiet now except for beside the dome. She hears the grainy crackle of dirt under her boots as she walks. Her mind is unusually clear as she strides briskly back to the Falcon. She must be tired… even too tired to think.

But she's not going to go to sleep. Not yet. She knows exactly what she wants to do first.

She ascends the ramp of the Falcon and immediately stows away her weapons. She removes her jacket and sits down to untie her boots. She pulls them off at the heel and stuffs her socks inside one of them.

Unwinding her hair, she gets up and heads straight for the shower. She pulls off her shirt and casts it to the side. She still has her pants and a thin, sleeveless undershirt on when she steps in and flips on the warm water. She turns and rests her back on the slick walls and slides down until she's seated directly under the steady stream pouring down from the wide panel above. She hugs her knees in tightly to her chest and leans forward a bit, letting her head hang as the water beats down on her neck, shoulders, and back.

Showers are a luxury she most certainly did not have on Jakku. And she must admit that she's really taken to them. Sometimes, she takes one even when she doesn't need to. She just likes to feel the warm water pouring over her, enveloping her. She likes to feel the hot steam filling the air around her. It's the next best thing to a hug.

Instinctively, her mind wanders to that day in the cave on the abandoned planet… when Ben healed her. She felt so strangely at home in his arms. Her enemy, by all logic, yet sinking into him had felt like the most natural thing to do. She's a little embarrassed that she still thinks about that day often. Especially when she has trouble falling asleep. There's something about the memory of him holding her that helps her quiet her mind.

Rey rests her forehead on her knees and lets herself relax. Her muscles begin to loosen along her shoulders. Her jaw slackens a bit as her breathing gently slows. She closes her eyes and starts to drift… The sound of the water hitting her skin, pattering on the floor around her slowly fades away. Her head nods over to the right, slightly. One by one, her hands slide down her shins and fall to the floor.

Rey awakens with a gasp, head snapping up sharply. She takes a deep inhale as she brings her hand to her eyes and wipes the water off her face. She shakes her head and looks out.

He's crouching down just ahead, a little to the side, watching her with curiosity. _How long has he been here…?_ She couldn't have been asleep for more than a few minutes. It was his presence that jerked her out of her sleep in the first place. She starts to reprimand him for scaring her half to death but then realizes it's not exactly his fault.

She sits up a little bit, looking out at him. His eyebrows are knitted together.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

She looks down at herself then back up at him. "I'm… taking a shower. Obviously."

"With your clothes on?" He has a glint in his eye.

"Well…yes. Lucky for me, it turns out." She looks a little embarrassed.

He gives a small nod.

She looks down. He stares at her for a few seconds, making her uncomfortable. Just as she's about to get up, he walks over and starts to take off his gloves. She looks up at him confused. He unbuttons and unwraps his shirt, casting it to the side then steps into the shower and takes a seat next to her.

Rey's sitting upright now, looking over at him with curiosity. His knees are bent and his back rests against the wall. He doesn't look at her but tilts his head back, eyes closed, letting the warm water pour over him. He runs a hand through his hair once before letting both arms rest beside him.

She looks at him for a while, but he doesn't budge. She tries to sense his emotions, his thoughts, but for once his mind calm and clear, almost meditative. So she leans back against the wall with him. At first, she wraps her arms tightly around her knees, trying to make herself small. Then, she relaxes a little and lets her right arm fall to the side.

He reaches over to take her hand, then brings it up towards his face, opening her palm. He sees the scar in the center, the one she got trying to take the Darkstaff from him. He looks down at it, tracing it with his thumb.

"Why did you come after the Darkstaff?" His voice is low and sounds almost weary.

"Why do you want the Darkstaff to begin with?" She asks back pointedly. She senses him tense in irritation.

Gridlock. They aren't going anywhere with this conversation.

He traces the scar one more time before releasing her hand. She brings her arm to her chest for a moment. Then, she reaches out to take his hand, wrapping her small fingers around his.

"Thank you… for what you did. With the Knights." She squeezes his hand gently.

He sighs. She senses his thoughts. He's frustrated with her for showing up in the first place. He thinks she's making it unnecessarily difficult for him to protect her. She holds in a scoff. She doesn't need him to protect her. And ultimately, she showed up for the Darkstaff because she fears she may eventually need to protect herself against him… from whatever his plans are with the artifacts.

"Ben—"

"Stop calling me that," he says, disentangling his hand from hers.

"Why?" She asks. "Would you prefer Kylo Ren? Or Supreme Leader? Or Master? Or one of the other titles you wear like a mask?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," he spits out. She feels anger rise in him.

"Actually, I do," she looks up at him. "I can sense it through the Force bond. How much energy you spend every single day hiding most of who you are from the people around you. You project confidence, but you're anything but. You're always afraid someone will see past your mask… see what you're hiding. Like how you tried to hide the Light inside you from Snoke for all those years."

At that, he scoffs loudly. "You think I didn't do the same thing as Ben? Ben Solo, the great Leia Organa's son, heir to the Skywalker legacy, destined to be a Jedi prodigy? Ben Solo, Snoke's little pet, his project, his son of darkness, quietly sewing seeds of fear and anger in me right under my parents' noses? Do you think Ben Solo wasn't a mask, a carefully calculated tool to hide Snoke's influence from my mother, my uncle? I've lived my whole life behind a mask."

She sits silently for a moment taking in what he just told her. After hearing this, who he is—the way he is—seems to make more sense to her. His paranoia, his deep-seated fear of being exposed.

"I call you Ben," she starts slowly, "because that's the name your mother gave you. Your mother—the one I see quite often. The one who every time she looks at me she thinks of you. And every time she thinks of you her heart aches with how much she wants you back."

She feels this hit him hard. He can't stop a pang of longing from washing over him. If only the General knew… if only she knew how close she was to having her son back… if not for his pride, his delusional ambitions.

She reaches out for his hand again. He lets her take it.

"Ben," Rey starts hesitantly, "Why do you want the artifacts? What do you plan to do with them?"

He looks at her with surprise.

"I…" she looks down. "You know how much I want to know. You know… surely you must know that I've been using the bond to search your thoughts to find out, to report to the Resistance."

His jaw hardens.

"But I'm tired of trying to hide that from you. I don't want to live my life behind a mask. So, I'm just asking you, upfront."

She looks up at him and catches his gaze.

"Why do you need the artifacts? _Please_ … tell me what's going on."

He looks back at her, guarded. She tries to keep out of his thoughts as a demonstration of good faith. But she can't help but read him… he really wants to tell her the truth. He's even thought about it before. He's seriously considering it.

But he's afraid that she won't understand. He doesn't trust her.

 _Please_ , she begs him with her eyes. _Please trust me_.

She feels how much he wants to relent. But something won't let him. He looks away from her.

"One day," he begins, looking down, "you'll understand that everything I've done as Supreme Leader is for the sake of the galaxy. It's something I was born to do. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I have now. And I can't let anyone get in my way." This last part sounds like a warning.

As he speaks, she senses it. He can't keep the thought from entering the foreground of his consciousness.

He thinks he's the Chosen One. The one destined to bring true balance to the Force.

She can't stop the curiosity welling up quickly inside her. Why does he think this? What does this have to do with the artifacts?

She feels him tense up with fear. He's trying to clear his mind, keep her from sensing too much.

Rey tries to clear her mind as well. She sits still and lets a peaceful calmness overtake her. She gently squeezes his hand. She wants him to feel this… to feel that he doesn't need to be afraid.

Gradually, he starts to relax. He lets out an exhale. Suddenly, he lets go of her hand and puts his arm around her, pulling her close beside him. She's a little stiff, a little uncertain at first, but soon she allows her head to rest just under his shoulder, wrapping one arm around his body. He brushes the hair back from her cheek and wraps both arms around her. He kisses the top of her head as he tightens his hold.

She feels it again, just like in the cave when he healed her. How much he loves her. It feels like a second heartbeat deep inside her, thrumming reassuringly next to her own.

She'll never understand this… how she can disagree with someone so much, trust him so little, and yet feel completely comfortable being so intimate with him. Sometimes she wonders if this is the reason the Force bond exists in the first place. If the Force is an intelligence, maybe it's doing this to expose them to one another's humanity. Maybe this intimacy, these feelings growing between them have a larger purpose to serve…

Rey closes her eyes and lets it all go. Her distrust of him. Her curiosity about the artifacts, his plans with them, his belief that he's the Chosen One. The First Order. The slave rebellion. This whole galaxy embroiled in war. For the first time since their encounter in the cave, she loses herself in the Force bond. She loses herself in his warm body, water still beating down on them from above. She loses herself in the emotions she feels encircling her… Love. Compassion. Protectiveness. A peacefulness, strong and steady, washes over her.

Her breathing slows. She feels herself drifting…

Rey's eyes snap open. She's laying on the floor of the shower by herself. The water is cold now, still beating down from above. Quickly, she pushes herself up with her palms, standing and flipping off the water.

She must have fallen asleep.

She looks around her. His gloves and shirt are still lying next to the shower, but he's nowhere to be seen. She sighs and picks up his things, putting them away in a nearby drawer. She begins peeling off her wet clothes. Her skin is soft and wrinkly from being in the shower so long. She grabs a towel and dries her body. She wraps it around her and picks up her soggy clothes.

Then she notices… wet marks on the floor leading out of the room.

She drops her clothes and follows them. She feels her heart begin to quicken. She follows them through the corridor to the lounge of the Falcon. Then she breaks into a run. She slips on the water on the floor, landing hard on her side next to the trap door that's wide open. She scrambles down into it without bothering to stand up first. Her heart is pounding. She's looking desperately all around her.

It's gone. The case with the Jedi texts.

He took them.


	10. Chapter 10: Revelations

Chapter 10: Revelations

 **NOTE TO READERS: This is an edited version of this chapter. Flip to the next chapter if you'd like to read the original. There will be a reference in the final chapter ("The Chosen One") to what happens in the original version, so I encourage you to read that one. :)**

"Dowut, Plexis, Corellia, Tangenine, Kuat…"

Kylo Ren can feel General Hux grow more frenzied with every planet he names.

"Crul, Takodana, Secundus Ando, the Naboo, Belderone _again_ …" His voice is bordering on shrill. "Insurgency spreads like a disease in all of them. We've completely lost control of the Outer Rim. It's crawling with Resistance scum and weapons, more coming in every day."

Kylo Ren listens without responding. He's not even looking at the General. His shoulders are relaxed and his hands are clasped lightly behind him. His back is to Hux as he stares out the window.

"These slave uprisings are turning into an _outright rebellion against the First Order_." The last part comes out as a guttural growl. Hux lets out a great burst of air, like he's been holding his breath this entire conversation.

Kylo Ren feels the General's eyes on him. He still doesn't respond. He doesn't even turn around.

Hux's annoyance with him quickly escalates into fury.

" _Supreme Leader!_ " The General lets the words escape as a shout as he slams his palms on the large table in the center of the room.

Kylo doesn't budge.

"Starkiller 2 will be operational in just over a day," he continues at a more reasonable volume. "With your permission, I'd like to use the weapon to take out Cantonica and the Concord Dawn system. That'll cut the Resistance's numbers in _half_. And it will show this galaxy the First Order does not tolerate rebellion under any circumstances."

"No," Kylo answers flatly. He still doesn't turn around.

" _Why not_?" Hux's voice is shrill again.

"Because I did not become Supreme Leader to rule over an asteroid field."

Hux lets out another burst of air. "With all due respect, if you don't intend to use the weapon on Starkiller at a time like this, then why did we even bother building it?"

"Fear," Kylo responds. "The people in this galaxy know what the weapon can do. They've seen it before."

"Yes, well that doesn't seem to be stopping half the systems under our control from falling into insurgency. Perhaps it's time to remind them that the systems in this galaxy exist only under the First Order's good graces. All others will be _pulverized_."

"No," Kylo repeats dispassionately. "We will not use the weapon. Not yet."

Hux sighs, clearly reaching peak frustration.

"Then how should we respond to the Resistance's upcoming attack? All of our sources tell us they're planning an assault on our core forces, including _this ship_ , in three days."

"Set course for Starkiller 2," Kylo commands. "Call in our forces to join us there. _All of them_."

"All of them?" Hux asks in disbelief.

"All of them."

Hux sputters. "I…" he begins hesitantly, "I realize that your background has not afforded you the privilege of becoming well-versed in large scale military strategy, so allow me to inform you that it is considered _an extremely bad idea_ to concentrate one's entire military might in one place—"

Hux stops abruptly as his throat constricts. His hands fly up to his neck as he gasps for air.

Kylo Ren finally turns around to face him.

"General," he begins as Hux croaks desperately, "You're a fine military man. You've served me and the First Order well. But if you refuse to follow my orders, don't think I'll hesitate to dispose of you and find someone else who will." After a few more seconds, he releases his hold on the General's throat. He begins gasping, starved for gulps of air.

Hux simmers with rage. "As you wish, _Supreme Leader_." The title somehow comes out like an insult when he says it.

The General turns a heel and quickly leaves the room. Kylo turns back towards the window.

 _So close_. He's practically there already.

The six most powerful Sith artifacts in the galaxy and the six most powerful Jedi artifacts to match. All locked away safely in the archives. His knights haven't mutinied yet. Most likely, they're waiting until after the ritual.

Which works out perfectly for Kylo Ren.

He just needs to bring the First Order forces together at Starkiller. Then it will be time. While the Resistance is busy attacking the fleet, he'll be far away… on Mustafar, in Fralideja, inside his grandfather's old stronghold. The planet where Obi Wan disfigured him. The planet where he became Darth Vader.

He will finish it there. Finally. He will finish what his grandfather started. He will bring true balance to the Force. He feels a weight slightly lift from his spirit just thinking about it.

The truth is he's tired. He looks forward to it being over.

He needs to get this done as soon as possible. Before the Force bond… It's only been two days. There's always at least a six day wait in between. He's been keeping track.

He should be able to finish this without seeing her again.

Just like that, the weight bears back down on him. Heavily.

There are certain things he does regret. He regrets that he'll never see his mother again. He regrets that he'll never be able to tell her… that there's no way he can make up what he's done to her. But this is his way of trying. He regrets that it took him so long to see the truth of what he was meant to do—how he is destined to bring true balance to the Force. He regrets the destruction he wreaked on his way to figuring it out. All of the pain he caused. It still eats away inside of him, corroding his spirit more and more every day.

And he regrets that she'll hate him all the way to the end. He'll die with Rey hating him. He wishes things could be different. He wishes many things in his life had gone differently.

But this is the way things are. And with any luck, he'll never know how she feels about what he does with the artifacts. He'll never see her reaction to his plans. He can only hope that one day, many years down the road, she'll see that he did the wrong things for the right reason. She may never forgive him. But maybe she'll understand him. And perhaps she'll see that in the end, he didn't die a monster. Not really.

At least that's how he hopes things turn out.

His mind wanders back to the last time he saw her. It was like it always is. He's alone in his room, or in his shuttle, or in the observation portal… and then he's not. He's with her, wherever she is. This time she was… asleep. In a very odd place. It seems to be a habit with her. He wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't want to scare her. He thought about not waking her at all.

He crouched down and inched towards her to sense how deeply she was sleeping. She clearly hadn't been asleep for long and yet she was already dreaming. He felt how exhausted she was, though also serene, at peace. Against his better judgement, he slipped into her mind to see her dreams. At first he saw nothing. Only a warm blackness. He heard a heartbeat thrumming steadily, omnipresent, seeming to come from all around. He heard deep breathing, long and steady exhales. Then the blackness rippled. The perspective jostled for a moment. An image flashed. Her hand curled near her face, pressed against his chest. Wet eyelashes sticking to his uniform as they opened and closed.

She's dreaming about that day in the cave. He couldn't help but linger. The truth is, he dreams about it too. It felt good to learn he's not alone in that.

Of course, he doubts she'll dream about him now. Not after he betrayed her.

His stomach twists with guilt, a maddeningly persistent emotion. It was _extremely_ unfortunate but necessary. He trusts his gut, and his gut tells him that if he'd asked her for the Jedi texts outright, she would've refused. That left only one option. _Necessary_.

But he hates himself for the way he did it. He hates himself for not walking out of the room the moment he saw that she was sleeping. If only he hadn't stopped to read her dreams…

Without warning, he senses the room change. A feeling Kylo Ren has come to know quite well over the past few weeks creeps upon him. He freezes.

Uh oh…

He turns around to be greeted by a searing white light. Instantly, he brings his right hand up to cover his eyes, but it's already too late. He's blind.

A second later, a knee strikes hard into his lower abdomen. He keels over as a sharp elbow strikes right where his neck meets his shoulders. His palms barely catch him before his face hits the floor. A swift, hard kick to the gut brings him all the way down.

Rey backs away. He tries to gather himself, to sense where's she's at. He pushes himself up to his knees and concentrates. The first thing he does is lock the door.

Now where is she…? Ahead, just to his left.

"No, I'm not." He hears her voice behind him. Is she projecting? Or throwing her voice? He can't tell.

He can't sense her at all. It's as if she's invisible, even through the Force.

"It's called Force stealth." It sounds like she's to the right. "It's how I was able to sneak onto Cularin to steal the Darkstaff without you sensing my presence." Now she's to the left.

"I learned it from the Jedi texts. The ones you _stole_ from me." He feels a force from above knock him off his knees to the ground.

She's cloaked and he's still blind. He could heal himself if he could slide off his glove…

She Force-slams him across the floor into the wall behind him. He scrambles onto his palms and stands up slowly.

"Rey," he begins. "I know you're angry."

She scoffs.

"Poor Ben… forever making the _wrong choice_."

A strong tug at his feet, and he's flat on his back on the hard floor. He winces in pain. He still can't sense where she is… not through his physical senses… not through his Force senses. Her voice keeps moving in different directions all around him.

"I asked you upfront about the artifacts. You had a chance to tell me the truth. To ask me instead of take from me. But you chose the darker path, as you always do."

Suddenly, he feels himself skid across the room and crash into another wall. Slowly, he reaches for his glove… he has _got_ to be able to see.

"You made the _wrong choice_ when you met your father on Starkiller."

He turns into the wall as though he's about to try to rise again.

"You made the _wrong choice_ after killing Snoke in the throne room."

He begins to slip off his right glove.

"And you made the _wrong choice_ the other night."

Again, she casts him across the room into another wall.

"You're done making the wrong choice. You're going to make the right choice right now. Bring me to the First Order archives."

He brings his hand to his eyes and heals himself. She realizes what he's doing too late.

She tries to knock him across the room again but he brings a hand up to stop her before she can. He stands up and looks her in the eye, his arm still extended towards her, trying to keep her still. Just as she begins to break free of his grip, he pulls her feet out from under her.

"Rey, I can't take you to the archives," he explains to her calmly.

She gets up and runs towards him. He slams her away, and she slides across the floor. On her back, she swings her legs around and hops up swiftly, crouching. "You're bringing me to the archives." She looks him dead in the eyes. "You're giving me the Jedi texts, the Darkstaff, the crystal, and whatever else you have stashed in there."

"No, I'm not," he replies.

She stands and in one swift movement, she dislodges the table in the center of the room, flips it on its side, and sends it crashing into him.

For a minute, he's pancaked between the wall and the table.

"Yes, you are," she assures him. "This ends today. Your precious plans. This bond between us. If I have to break you to break it, I will."

Finally, he pushes the table back. It clatters on the floor right side up in front of him.

He looks at her. He's never felt her so angry. She reminds him of himself right now, in a very bad way.

"Rey, stop," he begs her.

As she raises a hand to push him back, he raises a hand to stop her. They stand, tense and concentrating, deadlocked. They can't break each other.

"Rey, what do you feel right now?" He looks in her eyes intently, struggling to keep her at bay.

"Stop trying to break my focus!" She hisses at him.

"You feel anger, like you've never felt it before, don't you?"

She tries to ignore him, but he feels he's getting to her.

"Coursing like a river of fire through your veins? It's called Force rage. It's when you channel intense anger to increase your speed, strength, and ferocity. How do you think you were able yank out a table that's literally built into the floor?"

Finally, they release one another at the same time, both staggering back a bit.

Rey's breathing heavily and looking down. She still feels angry, but also worried and confused.

"That's not a skill you'd read about in the Jedi texts," He says as he removes his other glove and casts it on the table. His tone is snide and foreboding.

She turns away from him and walks back a few paces. They're both panting.

The room is silent for a minute. He feels her struggling to regain a sense of calm.

"Rey—"

"Shut up," she spits at him without turning around. She's trying to concentrate, to fully compose herself.

Suddenly, she spins around to face him.

"I want to know, Ben. I want you to tell me right now. Why? What's worth betraying me for, again and again? What's worth destroying homes, cities, entire planets, just to get your hands on the artifacts? What's worth putting the galaxy through all of this fear and pain and death—"

" _I'm trying to save the god damned galaxy!_ " He doesn't mean for this to come out as a shout but it does.

She looks at him with surprise and not a little doubt in her eyes.

"Well, you're doing a bang-up job," she says as she glares at him.

He sighs and looks away from her. They stand in silence.

"How did it feel?" He finally asks. He looks at her. "How did it feel to channel the Dark Side of the Force?"

She looks at him guarded. She feels ashamed.

He looks away, shaking his head. "It felt good at first, I bet. Like white hot control. Like nothing could stand in your way. How does it feel now?" He looks back at her, pointedly.

He knows exactly how it feels. Like the smallest drop of acid in your soul, eating away at you slowly but steadily.

"Rey," he can't stop the emotion from welling in his voice. "You are a victim. And you are sinking further and further every single day. _I see it_."

"I don't understand what you mean," she says, eyebrows knitting together. "I'm a victim of what? The Dark Side?"

Kylo looks down and takes a breath. "Rey, how long have you been using the Force?" he asks her.

She pauses to think. "Consciously? About a year, I guess."

He looks at her sharply. "Do you know how long I've been using the Force?" She looks back at him, shrugging her shoulders. "My whole life. From birth, practically. I don't even remember being without sensing the Force, without feeling it course through me."

Rey looks at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I know the Force very well. I've seen what it does to people. I've experienced it. I've learned about it. Centuries of unbalance, Sith and Jedi. It's a corruption, Rey. The Force is a corruption in the souls of those who wield it."

"Ben," Rey says quietly. She's calm now. "What you experienced with Snoke, that's not the true nature of the Force. The corruption you're talking about, that comes from the Dark Side."

"No, it doesn't," he says ruefully, shaking his head. "You forget, I lived the first part of my life in the Light. And I saw then what the Force does to people before I ever met Snoke face to face. With my uncle, my mother… You see, those who try to wield the Light, they're so dogmatic about it, so terrified that they or someone close to them will succumb to the darkness they fall right into its trap. And then others are simply ignorant and untrained, channeling the Force indiscriminately. Just like you. Remember? On Ahch-To with Luke? You went straight for the darkness. You didn't even hesitate. And a few weeks ago in the cave? You channeled that darkness without even intending it, just because you wanted that crystal so desperately. And today, you let rage consume and strengthen you. You couldn't help it, couldn't stop it. You were too angry with me to control yourself."

She's looking out into nothing, lost in thought.

"This is what the Force does, Rey, to whoever uses it. If I learned anything valuable under Snoke, it's this: There is no Dark side or Light side. There is only the Force. Only power. And power corrupts. Every time."

Suddenly, her head snaps towards his. She gazes at him intently, gazes into him. He tries to keep her at bay, but his guard is down. He's being too open, revealing too much… She pierces right through his defenses, into the depths of his mind.

Finally, he casts her off, breathless.

"Six of the most powerful Sith artifacts and six Jedi to match," she whispers to herself, looking down. "You're going to destroy them. All of them. You're going to destroy them and their power with them. That's not what you've told your Knights, but that's what you're planning." She's still confused, working it out in her head.

She begins to put the pieces together… to see the whole picture. He can see it in her mind.

Six artifacts of each aspect of the Force. Each one containing centuries of power. Destroying any one of them would send waves rippling through the Force. Destroying all of them at once…

"It's going to weaken the Force," she says slowly. "To drain its power to the point that no one can channel it."

She processes the realization, taking it in deliberately. "How long have you been planning to do this," she asks, looking back over at him.

He hesitates. He's not sure where to start. "Snoke…" he begins, "Snoke came to me when I was very young as a whisper in my mind. He convinced me I was special, that I was the Chosen One. It wasn't until I met him face to face that I discovered what he meant. He believed the Jedi misread the prophecy, and the Chosen One was destined to destroy the Jedi and reform the Sith. He believed the Force should not be understood as part Light and part Dark but only as power. He wanted me for my ability to channel both aspects at once. And he wanted the artifacts to merge them into six crystals containing the power of both the Light and the Dark, so the Knights of Ren could join me in wielding the Force as Snoke believed it was meant to be wielded. But…"

Kylo's throat constricts. He closes his eyes and takes a breath. He tries to control his emotions. He needs to get through this.

"But after I killed my father to prove to him how fully committed I was to the cause, to prove that I could wield the Light aspect without falling prey to sentiment…" his voice trails off. The room is silent for a minute.

"It took me a while to see," he starts again with a hoarse voice, "to accept that my father was right, that Snoke was just using me for my power, twisting me to his purpose. But when I began to see, I began to see everything. I began to see the Force for what it truly is. I saw it in my life. I saw it in my grandfather's. I saw it in centuries upon centuries past when the Sith and Jedi tore apart the galaxy with their wars. The beings in this galaxy cannot wield the Force without using it to destroy. So much death has come from the struggle between Light and Dark… the Hundred-Year Darkness, the Jedi-Sith wars, the rise of the Empire, the rise of the First Order. Would any of this have happened if people were unable to wield the Force, unable to be corrupted by its power?"

Rey still listens to him intently.

He sighs as he returns her gaze. "I'm sorry, Rey. I wanted to tell you all this. I wanted to ask you for the Jedi texts, not steal them from you. But I was afraid you wouldn't understand. It's time for it to end. The Sith. The Jedi. All schools of the Force. It's time to truly bring peace and balance to the galaxy… to set everyone free from the Force and its corrupting influence."

She looks away from him, lost deep in her thoughts. He tries to read her, but her emotions are too tumultuous. It's impossible to sense how she's taking all of this.

It feels like forever before she speaks again.

"Ben," she starts almost in a whisper. " _No._ "

His heart drops. He knew he should have trusted his instincts. He knew she wouldn't understand.

"No," she repeats more firmly. "I know I haven't used the Force for as long as you have. And I know I have a lot to learn. But the Force in itself isn't a corruption. It's only in how some people choose to use it—"

" _But that's exactly my point_ ," Kylo interrupts her. "Too many people who use the Force make the wrong choice. You said it yourself. People like me—we make the wrong choice, and millions suffer for it."

Rey shakes her head. "You're not considering the whole picture. You're just focusing on the parts you want to see. The Jedi brought centuries of peace to the galaxy. Through the Force, they expanded our knowledge of life, of the universe itself, to an extent no one thought possible. Think of the advances they brought with them… in healing, in technology, in understanding the mind."

"Where are the Jedi now?" Kylo asks assertively. "They're all dead," he answers before she can. "For all their power, all their advancements, they couldn't stop the Sith from devouring the galaxy in darkness. In fact, it happened right under their noses, through one of their own. Ask yourself, Rey… if there were no Jedi, would there be a Sith? If there were no Anakin Skywalker, would there be a Darth Vader?"

Rey sighs. "I understand why you believe you're doing the right thing, I really do. In fact, I'm even proud of you for being able to finally disentangle yourself from Snoke's web. I know that couldn't have been easy. But you're wrong about the Force, Ben. It's not a corruption. It's a gift. It's pure hope—"

"You don't know what you're talking about," he says forcefully, interrupting her. "I know the Force. I feel it corroding my spirit more and more every day—"

"But your experience isn't everyone's experience, Ben" she interrupts him emphatically. "For you, the Force has been a corruption, but for me? It changed my life. It gave my life meaning beyond just survival. Because of the Force, I finally feel like I belong to something bigger than myself. I know that I'm part of a larger story; I just don't know how. All I know is that I'm no longer powerless, and through the Force I can show others that they aren't powerless either. Think of the little boy I told you about, the slave on Cantonica who healed my friend. One day I asked him if his powers scared him, if he wished he was just a normal boy. Do you know what he told me? He told me that he never wishes he were normal because if he were then my friend would be dead. He wants to use his powers to help people, to defend them against those like the slavers who treat others like property."

Kylo grunts, turning away from Rey. "You know, my grandfather was almost turned away by the Jedi order when Obi Wan brought him in to be trained. Do you know why?"

Rey doesn't say anything.

"It wasn't just because he was too old. It was because he had been a slave. The Jedi Order believed that slavery naturally fostered emotions that lead to the Dark side—anger and resentment. And they were right. Anakin was never able to control his anger against those who preyed on the weak and downtrodden. He was never able to curb his resentment towards the wealth gap in certain sectors in this galaxy. In the end, he became a slave to his anger and his fear. This little boy you speak of… how do you know the same won't happen to him? He was raised to see the very worst that beings in this galaxy are capable of. Do you think he'll ever truly outgrow the resentment and anger these experiences have infected him with? Do you think these emotions won't cloud his judgement, his use of the Force as he grows older?"

"That's his choice to make, not yours," Rey responds firmly. "You're being just like Luke right now. Just like how Master Skywalker made your choice for you when he tried to kill you in your sleep, you're making Jian's choice before he has a chance to make it for himself."

Kylo sighs. How can he make her understand?

"If I've learned anything being part of the slave rebellion over the past two weeks, "Rey continues, "It's that people in this galaxy need hope. They need to know that there is a chance for them, that there is a Force bigger than them that can protect them, that can help them not feel so alone and powerless." She looks up at Kylo beseechingly. "Please don't do this. There has to be a better way to bring balance."

"This is the way. The only way to truly bring balance," he says calmly but firmly. He turns away from her. They stand in silence.

He hears Rey breathing behind him. She's searching her mind for another way to persuade him…

"So… after you do this, what then? There will still be the First Order. Are you just going to disassemble it… or blow it up?"

For a split second, he turns to give her a knowing look. Her eyebrows shoot up in shock.

"Oh wow…" It's extremely difficult to read her emotions when she's processing so much at once, but he does sense bewilderment, a little relief, maybe even admiration?

"And then, what about you?" She continues. "The Force has been with you your whole life, as you say. How will you live without it?"

He doesn't turn. He tenses and tries to keep his mind clear. But she reads him anyway. He feels her stomach drop, almost as if it were his own, and a hollow, gnawing feeling in her chest.

"Doing this is going to kill you."

She tries to catch her breath, but the feeling in her stomach won't go away. She begins to step towards him with wide eyes, " _Ben, no._ "

He steps back instinctively. She stops.

But then Kylo realizes something. He has nothing left to hide from her. No more secrets. No need to constantly guard his thoughts, to keep her at bay. Nothing left to conceal.

He steps towards her. Now she backs away, a little surprised. But she doesn't break her gaze, not even when he steps right in front of her, close enough for her to feel his body heat.

"Ben, this isn't worth sacrificing your life." Rey's voice breaks as she speaks. She can't stop tears from escaping her eyes. She's shaking a little. He brings a hand to her face and wipes her tears away with a thumb. He lets it slide down her face and rest on her shoulder, his thumb still tracing her lower jaw.

He can't help but be surprised. He never guessed she'd be so upset over him dying. Then, for the first time, he feels it rising up inside him like a warm glow. He hasn't felt something like this in over a decade.

She loves him too. She wants him too.

Immediately, he leans down and captures her lips with his own, one hand behind her head, the other behind her waist, drawing her closer. She kisses back, tentatively at first, sliding both hands up along the sides of his body. As their kisses grow more passionate, they both feel a strange sense of relief, like a heavy tension is releasing all around them as the fire between them burns hotter. They grasp and grab at one another for a minute, mouths opening into each other, before Kylo suddenly picks Rey up by her waist and sets her on the table beside them.

The both breath heavily for a few moments. They're eye to eye now. He leans into her, forehead resting on hers, hands circling her hips. Both of her hands frame his face, fingers behind his neck, thumbs at his cheeks.

"Ben," Rey whispers, shaking her head slightly. "Don't do this. Please don't do this. We can find a better way to achieve balance. I'll help you."

He sighs and shakes his head. His eyes are closed.

"And your mother," she continues. "She'll want to see you. You have no idea, Ben, how happy she'll be that you freed yourself from Snoke's influence."

He pulls back and looks her in the eye. Her hands drop to her sides. "No, Rey," he asserts calmly but forcefully. "I know I'm doing the right thing. Everything I've experienced in my life, everything my grandfather experienced, brought me _right here_. I _need_ to do this. You'll see. Everything will be better after I do this. You're going to survive, Rey, and rebuild this galaxy. And when you do that, you're going to see that things are better, more peaceful, without people wielding the Force."

She sighs and looks away. She's still searching her mind for a way to talk him out of this… but she isn't coming up with much. She looks back at him. He reads her like a book—her frustration with his refusal to bend, her disapproval of his interpretation of the prophecy, her grief that this may be the last time she sees him. Her heart actually aches at the thought.

Kylo leans in and brings his lips to hers again softly. He pulls at her hips to bring her closer to him, pressing her body against his chest. She wraps her arms around his back and pulls him closer.

He'll never understand it. How he can disagree with someone so fundamentally, and yet love her so much.

As they kiss, his hand travels up her waist, under her shirt. Her skin is soft and smooth. He grips her and pulls her closer, practically lifting her off the table. She wraps her legs around him, hands at his back, pressing herself against him.

For a few minutes, they both focus on this one thing they have in common, their love, their powerful attraction and connection through the Force.

Suddenly, Rey pulls away from him. He looks down at her uncertain, trying to read her. She feels heartache, a straining tension between how she feels about him and how she feels about what he is about to do.

He looks deep into her eyes as he assures her, "What I'm doing is best for the galaxy."

Her gaze flits away for a moment. Then she turns back to him with a solemn look on her face.

"You know I'm going to try to stop you, right?" She says this more like a statement than a question.

He looks directly back at her. "I really wish you wouldn't."

They both stare intently at one another in silence.

"Rey," he says with a warning in his voice, "please stay out of my way. I don't want to hurt you, but…" his voice trails off. He can't even say it. He's even less certain he can actually do it.

She doesn't break her gaze. He can feel her resolve. She's not backing down.

"We'll see each other again," she assures him softly. Then just like that, she disappears before his eyes.

He stands, cold and alone, in the empty room. He focuses on his breathing, still faster than normal. He brings his hand to his face and turns towards the window, thinking. Slowly, a sense of alarm begins to rise in his belly, up through his chest and into his throat. He turns swiftly to exit the room.

He needs to move up his timeline.

After seeing anger consume Rey today, he's more confident than ever that he's doing the right thing. He won't let her become corroded as he has. He's going to save her, and give her a peaceful galaxy to live in. She'll still find purpose and happiness without the Force. He feels certain of that.

He feels a twist in his heart.

He wishes he can share in her happiness, that there was another way to do this… another option. But she made it very clear to him today that there is only one option.

Still, it is a sweet surprise, a final parting gift to know that he won't die with Rey hating him. Just the opposite. Despite all their differences, despite her disapproval of his actions, both past and present, she loves him.

It's certainly not something he deserves.

He thinks about Rey. He thinks about the difference between how they felt about each other when they first met and how they feel about each other now. He thinks about the role the Force has played in this drastic evolution.

For just a second, he feels a chink of doubt crack through his resolve.

But he banishes the thought immediately.


	11. Chapter 10: Revelations (M)

Chapter 10: Revelations

"Dowut, Plexis, Corellia, Tangenine, Kuat…"

Kylo Ren can feel General Hux grow more frenzied with every planet he names.

"Crul, Takodana, Secundus Ando, the Naboo, Belderone _again_ …" His voice is bordering on shrill. "Insurgency spreads like a disease in all of them. We've completely lost control of the Outer Rim. It's crawling with Resistance scum and weapons, more coming in every day."

Kylo Ren listens without responding. He's not even looking at the General. His shoulders are relaxed and his hands are clasped lightly behind him. His back is to Hux as he stares out the window.

"These slave uprisings are turning into an _outright rebellion against the First Order_." The last part comes out as a guttural growl. Hux lets out a great burst of air, like he's been holding his breath this entire conversation.

Kylo Ren feels the General's eyes on him. He still doesn't respond. He doesn't even turn around.

Hux's annoyance with him quickly escalates into fury.

" _Supreme Leader!_ " The General lets the words escape as a shout as he slams his palms on the large table in the center of the room.

Kylo doesn't budge.

"Starkiller 2 will be operational in just over a day," he continues at a more reasonable volume. "With your permission, I'd like to use the weapon to take out Cantonica and the Concord Dawn system. That'll cut the Resistance's numbers in _half_. And it will show this galaxy the First Order does not tolerate rebellion under any circumstances."

"No," Kylo answers flatly. He still doesn't turn around.

" _Why not_?" Hux's voice is shrill again.

"Because I did not become Supreme Leader to rule over an asteroid field."

Hux lets out another burst of air. "With all due respect, if you don't intend to use the weapon on Starkiller at a time like this, then why did we even bother building it?"

"Fear," Kylo responds. "The people in this galaxy know what the weapon can do. They've seen it before."

"Yes, well that doesn't seem to be stopping half the systems under our control from falling into insurgency. Perhaps it's time to remind them that the systems in this galaxy exist only under the First Order's good graces. All others will be _pulverized_."

"No," Kylo repeats dispassionately. "We will not use the weapon. Not yet."

Hux sighs, clearly reaching peak frustration.

"Then how should we respond to the Resistance's upcoming attack? All of our sources tell us they're planning an assault on our core forces, including _this ship_ , in three days."

"Set course for Starkiller 2," Kylo commands. "Call in our forces to join us there. _All of them_."

"All of them?" Hux asks in disbelief.

"All of them."

Hux sputters. "I…" he begins hesitantly, "I realize that your background has not afforded you the privilege of becoming well-versed in large scale military strategy, so allow me to inform you that it is considered _an extremely bad idea_ to concentrate one's entire military might in one place—"

Hux stops abruptly as his throat constricts. His hands fly up to his neck as he gasps for air.

Kylo Ren finally turns around to face him.

"General," he begins as Hux croaks desperately, "You're a fine military man. You've served me and the First Order well. But if you refuse to follow my orders, don't think I'll hesitate to dispose of you and find someone else who will." After a few more seconds, he releases his hold on the General's throat. He begins gasping, starved for gulps of air.

Hux simmers with rage. "As you wish, _Supreme Leader_." The title somehow comes out like an insult when he says it.

The General turns a heel and quickly leaves the room. Kylo turns back towards the window.

 _So close_. He's practically there already.

The six most powerful Sith artifacts in the galaxy and the six most powerful Jedi artifacts to match. All locked away safely in the archives. His knights haven't mutinied yet. Most likely, they're waiting until after the ritual.

Which works out perfectly for Kylo Ren.

He just needs to bring the First Order forces together at Starkiller. Then it will be time. While the Resistance is busy attacking the fleet, he'll be far away… on Mustafar, in Fralideja, inside his grandfather's old stronghold. The planet where Obi Wan disfigured him. The planet where he became Darth Vader.

He will finish it there. Finally. He will finish what his grandfather started. He will bring true balance to the Force. He feels a weight slightly lift from his spirit just thinking about it.

The truth is he's tired. He looks forward to it being over.

He needs to get this done as soon as possible. Before the Force bond… It's only been two days. There's always at least a six day wait in between. He's been keeping track.

He should be able to finish this without seeing her again.

Just like that, the weight bears back down on him. Heavily.

There are certain things he does regret. He regrets that he'll never see his mother again. He regrets that he'll never be able to tell her… that there's no way he can make up for what he's done to her. But this is his way of trying. He regrets that it took him so long to see the truth of what he was meant to do—how he is destined to bring true balance to the Force. He regrets the destruction he wreaked on his way to figuring it out. All of the pain he caused. It still eats away inside of him, corroding his spirit more and more every day.

And he regrets that she'll hate him all the way to the end. He'll die with Rey hating him. He wishes things could be different. He wishes many things in his life had gone differently.

But this is the way things are. And with any luck, he'll never know how she feels about what he does with the artifacts. He'll never see her reaction to his plans. He can only hope that one day, many years down the road, she'll see that he did the wrong things for the right reason. She may never forgive him. But maybe she'll understand him. And perhaps she'll see that in the end, he didn't die a monster. Not really.

At least that's how he hopes things turn out.

His mind wanders back to the last time he saw her. It was like it always is. He's alone in his room, or in his shuttle, or in the observation portal… and then he's not. He's with her, wherever she is. This time she was… asleep. In a very odd place. It seems to be a habit with her. He wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't want to scare her. He thought about not waking her at all.

He crouched down and inched towards her to sense how deeply she was sleeping. She clearly hadn't been asleep for long and yet she was already dreaming. He felt how exhausted she was, though also serene, at peace. Against his better judgement, he slipped into her mind to see her dreams. At first he saw nothing. Only a warm blackness. He heard a heartbeat thrumming steadily, omnipresent, seeming to come from all around. He heard deep breathing, long and steady exhales. Then the blackness rippled. The perspective jostled for a moment. An image flashed. Her hand curled near her face, pressed against his chest. Wet eyelashes sticking to his uniform as they opened and closed.

She's dreaming about that day in the cave. He couldn't help but linger. The truth is, he dreams about it too. It felt good to learn he's not alone in that.

Of course, he doubts she'll dream about him now. Not after he betrayed her.

His stomach twists with guilt, a maddeningly persistent emotion. It was _extremely_ unfortunate but necessary. He trusts his gut, and his gut tells him that if he'd asked her for the Jedi texts outright, she would've refused. That left only one option. _Necessary_.

But he hates himself for the way he did it. He hates himself for not walking out of the room the moment he saw that she was sleeping. If only he hadn't stopped to read her dreams…

Without warning, he senses the room change. A feeling Kylo Ren has come to know quite well over the past few weeks creeps upon him. He freezes.

Uh oh…

He turns around to be greeted by a searing white light. Instantly, he brings his right hand up to cover his eyes, but it's already too late. He's blind.

A second later, a knee strikes hard into his lower abdomen. He keels over as a sharp elbow strikes right where his neck meets his shoulders. His palms barely catch him before his face hits the floor. A swift, hard kick to the gut brings him all the way down.

Rey backs away. He tries to gather himself, to sense where's she's at. He pushes himself up to his knees and concentrates. The first thing he does is lock the door.

Now where is she…? Ahead, just to his left.

"No, I'm not." He hears her voice behind him. Is she projecting? Or throwing her voice? He can't tell.

He can't sense her at all. It's as if she's invisible, even through the Force.

"It's called Force stealth." She's to his right. "It's how I was able to sneak onto Cularin to steal the Darkstaff without you sensing my presence." Now she's on the left.

"I learned it from the Jedi texts. The ones you _stole_ from me." He feels a force from above knock him off his knees to the ground.

She's cloaked and he's still blind. He could heal himself if he could slide off his glove…

She Force-slams him across the floor into the wall behind him. He scrambles onto his palms and stands up slowly.

"Rey," he begins. "I know you're angry."

She scoffs.

"Poor Ben… forever making the _wrong choice_."

A strong tug at his feet, and he's flat on his back on the hard floor. He winces in pain. He still can't sense where she is… not through his physical senses… not through his Force senses. Her voice keeps moving in different directions all around him.

"I asked you upfront about the artifacts. You had a chance to tell me the truth. To ask me instead of take from me. But you chose the darker path, as you always do."

Suddenly, he feels himself skid across the room and crash into another wall. Slowly, he reaches for his glove… he has _got_ to be able to see.

"You made the _wrong choice_ when you met your father on Starkiller."

He turns into the wall as though he's about to try to rise again.

"You made the _wrong choice_ after killing Snoke in the throne room."

He begins to slip off his right glove.

"And you made the _wrong choice_ with me the other night."

Again, she casts him across the room into another wall.

"You're done making the wrong choice. You're going to make the right choice right now. Bring me to the First Order archives."

He brings his hand to his eyes and heals himself. She realizes what he's doing too late.

She tries to knock him across the room again but he brings a hand up to stop her before she can. He stands up and looks her in the eyes, his arm still extended towards her, trying to keep her still. Just as she begins to break free of his grip, he pulls her feet out from under her.

"Rey, I can't take you to the archives," he explains calmly.

She gets up and runs towards him. He slams her away, and she slides across the floor. On her back, she swings her legs around and hops up swiftly, crouching. "You're bringing me to the archives." She looks him dead in the eyes. "You're giving me the Jedi texts, the Darkstaff, the crystal, and whatever else you have stashed in there."

"No, I'm not," he replies.

She stands and in one swift movement, she dislodges the table in the center of the room, flips it on it on its side, and sends it crashing into him.

For a minute, he's pancaked between the wall and the table.

"Yes, you are," she assures him. "This ends today. Your precious plans. This bond between us. If I have to break you to break it, I will."

Finally, he pushes the table back. It clatters on the floor right side up in front of him.

He looks at her. He's never felt her so angry. She reminds him of himself right now, in a very bad way.

"Rey, stop," he begs her.

As she raises a hand to push him back, he raises a hand to stop her. They stand, tense and concentrating, deadlocked. They can't break each other.

"Rey, what do you feel right now?" He looks in her eyes intently, struggling to keep her at bay.

"Stop trying to break my focus!" She hisses at him.

"You feel anger, like you've never felt it before, don't you?"

She tries to ignore him, but he feels he's getting to her.

"Coursing like a river of fire through your veins? It's called Force rage. It's when you channel intense anger to increase your speed and your strength. How else do you think you were able rip out a table that's literally built into the floor?"

Finally, they release one another at the same time, both staggering back a bit.

Rey's breathing heavily and looking down. She still feels angry, but also worried and confused.

"That's not a skill you'd read about in the Jedi texts," He says as he removes his other glove and casts it on the table. His tone is snide and foreboding.

She turns away from him and walks back a few paces. They're both still panting.

The room is silent for a minute. He feels her struggling to regain a sense of calm.

"Rey—"

"Shut up," she spits at him without turning around. She's trying to concentrate, to fully compose herself.

Suddenly, she spins around to face him.

"I want to know, Ben. I want you to tell me right now. Why? What's worth betraying me for, again and again? What's worth destroying homes, cities, entire planets, just to get your hands on the artifacts? What's worth putting the galaxy through all of this fear and pain and death—"

" _I'm trying to save the god damned galaxy!_ " He doesn't mean for this to come out as a shout but it does.

She looks at him with surprise and not a little doubt in her eyes.

"Well, you're doing a bang-up job," she says as she glares at him.

He sighs and looks away from her. They stand in silence.

"How did it feel?" He finally asks. He looks at her. "How did it feel to channel the Dark Side of the Force?"

She looks at him guarded. She feels ashamed.

He looks away, shaking his head. "It felt good at first, I bet. Like white hot control. Like nothing could stand in your way. How does it feel now?" He looks back at her, pointedly.

He knows exactly how it feels. Like the smallest drop of acid in your soul, eating away at you slowly but surely.

"Rey," he can't stop the emotion from welling in his voice. " _You are a victim_. And you are sinking further and further every single day. _I see it_."

"I don't understand what you mean," she says, eyebrows knitting together. "I'm a victim of what? The Dark Side?"

Kylo looks down and takes a breath. "Rey, how long have you been using the Force?" he asks her.

She pauses to think. "Consciously? About a year, I guess."

He looks at her sharply. "Do you know how long I've been using the Force?" She looks back at him, shrugging her shoulders. "My whole life. From birth, practically. I don't ever remember being alive without sensing the Force, without feeling it course through me."

Rey looks at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I know the Force very well. I've seen what it does to people. I've experienced it. I've learned about it. Centuries of unbalance, Sith and Jedi. It's a corruption, Rey. The Force is a corruption in the souls of those who wield it."

"Ben," Rey says quietly. She's calm now. "What you experienced with Snoke, that's not the true nature of the Force. The corruption you're talking about, that comes from the Dark Side."

"No, it doesn't," he says ruefully, shaking his head. "You forget, I lived the first part of my life in the Light. And I saw then what the Force does to people before I ever met Snoke face to face. With my uncle, my mother… You see, those who try to wield the Light, they're so dogmatic about it, so terrified that they or someone close to them will succumb to the darkness they fall right into its trap. And then others are simply ignorant and untrained, channeling the Force indiscriminately. Just like you. Remember? On Ahch-To with Luke? You went straight for the darkness. You didn't even hesitate. And a few weeks ago in the cave? You channeled the darkness without even intending it, just because you wanted that crystal so desperately. And today, you let rage consume and strengthen you. You couldn't help it, couldn't stop it. You were too angry with me to control yourself."

She's looking out into nothing, lost in thought.

"This is what the Force does, Rey, to whoever uses it. If I learned anything valuable under Snoke, it's this: There is no Dark side or Light side. There is only the Force. Only power. And power corrupts. Every time."

Suddenly, her head snaps towards his. She gazes at him intently, gazes into him. He tries to keep her at bay, but his guard is down. He's being too open, revealing too much… She pierces right through his defenses, into the depths of his mind.

Finally, he casts her off, breathless.

"Six of the most powerful Sith artifacts and six Jedi to match," she whispers to herself, looking down. "You're going to destroy them. All of them. You're going to destroy them and their power with them. That's not what you've told your Knights, but that's what you're planning." She's still confused, working it out in her head.

She begins to put the pieces together… to see the whole picture. He can see it in her mind.

Six artifacts of each aspect of the Force. Each one containing centuries of power. Destroying any one of them would send waves rippling through the Force. Destroying all of them at once…

"It's going to weaken the Force," she says slowly. "To drain its power to the point that no one can channel it."

She processes the realization, taking it in deliberately. "How long have you been planning to do this," she asks, looking back over at him.

He hesitates. He's not sure where to start.

"Snoke…" he begins, "Snoke came to me when I was very young as a whisper in my mind. He convinced me I was special, that I was the Chosen One. It wasn't until I met him face to face that I discovered what he meant. He believed the Jedi misread the prophecy, and the Chosen One was destined to destroy the Jedi and reform the Sith. He believed the Force should not be understood as part Light and part Dark but only as power. He wanted me for my ability to channel both aspects at once. And he wanted the artifacts to merge them into six crystals containing the power of both the Light and the Dark, so the Knights of Ren could join me in wielding the Force as Snoke believed it was meant to be wielded. But…"

Kylo's throat constricts. He closes his eyes and takes a breath. He tries to control his emotions. He needs to get through this.

"But after I killed my father to prove to him how fully committed I was to the cause, to prove that I could wield the Light aspect without falling prey to sentiment…" his voice trails off. The room is silent for a minute.

"It took me a while to see," he starts again with a hoarse voice, "to accept that my father was right, that Snoke was just using me for my power, twisting me to his purpose. But when I began to see, I began to see everything. I began to see the Force for what it truly is. I saw it in my life. I saw it in Luke's. I saw it in my grandfather's. I saw it in centuries upon centuries past when the Sith and Jedi tore apart the galaxy with their wars. The beings in this galaxy cannot wield the Force without using it to destroy. So much death has come from the struggle between Light and Dark… the Hundred-Year Darkness, the Jedi-Sith wars, the rise of the Empire, the rise of the First Order. Would any of this have happened if people were unable to wield the Force, unable to be corrupted by its power?"

Rey still listens to him intently.

He sighs as he returns her gaze. "I'm sorry, Rey. I wanted to tell you all this. I wanted to ask you for the Jedi texts, not steal them from you. But I was afraid you wouldn't understand. It's time for it to end. The Sith. The Jedi. All schools of the Force. It's time to truly bring peace and balance to the galaxy… to set everyone free from the Force and its corrupting influence."

She looks away from him, lost deep in her thoughts. He tries to read her, but her emotions are too tumultuous. It's impossible to sense how she's taking all of this.

It feels like forever before she speaks again.

"Ben," she starts almost in a whisper. " _No._ "

His heart drops. He knew he should have trusted his instincts. He knew she wouldn't understand.

"No," she repeats more firmly. "I know I haven't used the Force for as long as you have. And I know I have a lot to learn. But the Force in itself isn't a corruption. It's only in how some people choose to use it—"

" _But that's exactly my point_ ," Kylo interrupts her. "Too many people who use the Force make the wrong choice. You said it yourself. People like me—we make the wrong choice, and _millions_ suffer for it."

Rey shakes her head. "You're not considering the whole picture. You're just focusing on the parts you want to see. The Jedi brought centuries of peace to the galaxy. Through the Force, they expanded our knowledge of life, of the universe itself, to an extent no one thought possible. Think of the advances they brought with them… in healing, in technology, in understanding the mind."

"Where are the Jedi now?" Kylo asks assertively. "They're all dead," he answers before she can. "For all their power, all their advancements, they couldn't stop the Sith from devouring the galaxy in darkness. In fact, it happened right under their noses, through one of their own. Ask yourself, Rey… if there were no Jedi, would there be a Sith? If there were no Anakin Skywalker, would there be a Darth Vader?"

Rey sighs. "I understand why you believe you're doing the right thing, I really do. In fact, I'm even proud of you for being able to finally disentangle yourself from Snoke's web. I know that couldn't have been easy. But you're wrong about the Force, Ben. It's not a corruption. It's a gift. It's pure hope—"

"You don't know what you're talking about," he says forcefully, interrupting her. "I know the Force. I feel it corroding my spirit more and more every day—"

"But your experience isn't everyone's experience, Ben" she interrupts him emphatically. "For you, the Force has been a corruption, but for me? It changed my life. It gave my life meaning beyond just survival. Because of the Force, I finally feel like I belong to something bigger than myself. I know that I'm part of a larger story; I just don't know how. All I know is that I'm no longer powerless, and through the Force I can show others that they aren't powerless either. Think of the little boy I told you about, the slave on Cantonica who healed my friend. One day I asked him if his powers scared him, if he wished he was just a normal boy. Do you know what he told me? He told me that he never wishes he were normal because if he were then my friend would be dead. He wants to use his powers to help people, to defend them against those like the slavers who treat others like property."

Kylo grunts, turning away from Rey. "You know, my grandfather was almost rejected by the Jedi order when Obi Wan brought him in to be trained. Do you know why?"

Rey doesn't say anything.

"It wasn't just because he was too old. It was because he had been a slave. The Jedi Order believed that slavery naturally fostered emotions that lead to the Dark side—anger and resentment. And they were right. Anakin was never able to control his anger against those who preyed on the weak and downtrodden. He was never able to curb his resentment towards the wealth gap in certain sectors in this galaxy. In the end, he became a slave to his anger and his fear. This little boy you speak of… how do you know the same won't happen to him? He was raised to see the very worst that beings in this galaxy are capable of. Do you think he'll ever truly outgrow the resentment and anger these experiences have infected him with? Do you think these emotions won't cloud his judgement, his use of the Force as he grows older?"

"That's his choice to make, not yours," Rey responds firmly. "You're being just like Luke right now. Just like how Master Skywalker made your choice for you when he tried to kill you in your sleep, you're taking away Jian's choice before he has a chance to make it for himself."

Kylo sighs. How can he make her understand?

"If I've learned anything being part of the slave rebellion over the past two weeks, "Rey continues, "It's that people in this galaxy need hope. They need to know that there is a chance for them, that there is a Force bigger than them that can protect them, that can help them not feel so alone and powerless." She looks out at Kylo beseechingly. "Please don't do this. There has to be a better way to bring balance."

" _This is_ the way. The only way to bring a true, lasting balance," he says calmly but firmly. He turns away from her. They stand in silence.

He hears Rey breathing behind him. She's searching her mind for another way to persuade him…

"So… after you do this, what then? There will still be the First Order. Are you just going to disassemble it… or blow it up?"

For a split second, he turns to give her a knowing look. Her eyebrows shoot up in shock.

"Oh wow…" It's extremely difficult to read her reaction to this when she's processing so much at once, but he does sense bewilderment, relief, and maybe even admiration?

"And then, what about you?" She continues. "The Force has been with you your whole life, as you say. How will you live without it?"

He doesn't turn. He tenses and tries to keep his mind clear. But she reads him anyway. He feels her stomach drop, almost as if it were his own, and a hollow, gnawing feeling in her chest.

"Doing this is going to kill you."

She tries to catch her breath, but the feeling in her stomach won't go away. She begins to step towards him with wide, pleading eyes, " _Ben, no._ "

He steps back instinctively. She stops.

But then Kylo realizes something.

He has nothing left to hide from her. No more secrets. No need to constantly guard his thoughts, to keep her at bay. Nothing left to conceal.

He steps towards her. Now she backs away, a little surprised. But she doesn't break her gaze, not even when he steps right in front of her, close enough for her to feel his body heat.

"Ben, this isn't worth sacrificing your life." Rey's voice breaks as she speaks. She can't stop tears from escaping her eyes. She's shaking a little. He brings a hand to her face and wipes her tears away with a thumb. He lets it slide down her face and rest on her shoulder, his thumb still tracing her lower jaw.

He can't help but be surprised. He never guessed she'd be so upset over him dying. Then, for the first time, he feels it rising up inside him like a warm glow. He hasn't felt something like this in over a decade.

She loves him too.

Immediately, he leans down and captures her lips with his own, one hand behind her head, the other behind her waist, drawing her closer. She kisses back, tentatively at first, sliding both hands up along the sides of his body. As their kisses grow more passionate, they both feel a strange sense of relief, like a heavy tension is releasing all around them as the fire between them burns hotter. They grasp and grab at one another for a minute, mouths opening into each other, before Kylo suddenly picks Rey up by her waist and sets her on the table beside them.

They both breath heavily for a few moments. They're eye to eye now. He leans into her, forehead resting on hers, hands circling her hips. Both of her hands frame his face, fingers curled behind his ears, thumbs at his cheeks.

"Ben," Rey whispers, shaking her head slightly. "Don't do this. Please don't do this. We can find a better way to achieve balance. I'll help you."

He sighs and shakes his head. His eyes are closed.

"And your mother," she continues. "She'll want to see you. You have no idea, Ben, how happy she'll be that you freed yourself from Snoke's influence."

He pulls back and looks her in the eyes. Her hands drop to her sides. "No, Rey," he asserts calmly but forcefully. "I know I'm doing the right thing. Everything I've experienced in my life, everything my grandfather experienced, brought me _right here_. I _need_ to do this. You'll see. Everything will be better after I do this. You're going to survive, Rey, and rebuild this galaxy. And when you do, you're going to see that things are better, more peaceful, without people wielding the Force."

She sighs and looks away. She's still searching her mind for a way to talk him out of this… but she isn't coming up with much. She looks back at him. He reads her like a book—her frustration with his refusal to bend, her disapproval of his interpretation of the prophecy, her grief that this may be the last time she sees him. Her heart actually aches at the thought.

Kylo leans in and brings his lips to hers again softly. He pulls at her hips to bring her to him, pressing her body against his chest. She wraps her arms around his back, returning his embrace.

He'll never understand it. How he can disagree with someone so fundamentally, and yet love her so much.

As they kiss, his hand travels up her waist, under her shirt. Her skin is soft and smooth. He grips her and pulls her in to him more tightly, practically lifting her off the table. She wraps her legs around him, hands at his back, pressing herself against him.

Suddenly, Rey pulls away, lifting her shirt up and over her head. She casts it off on the table and boldly looks back at him with piercing eyes.

Kylo can't stop himself from gaping in shock. He nervously struggles to catch a full breath, hands at the crease of her thigh and hips, looking down at her bare breasts. Rey is not embarrassed or ashamed. She's calm and confident, filled with purpose, even though she's trembling a little. She begins to pull his shirt from his pants and unbutton it. He lets her as he feels his heart begin to beat out of his chest. A part of him doubts this is really happening…

She opens his shirt and pulls it over his broad shoulders, down over his hands and onto the floor. Rey looks directly into his eyes. He tries to sense her thoughts, but her mind is focused solely on this connection they both feel between them. She's letting intuition guide her actions.

She leans forward to kiss him, hands slipping along the side of his body to his back, pulling him closer, pressing her bare chest against his. He grips just below her hips and pulls her body hard against his, hand traveling down along the back of her thigh as she wraps her legs around him again. She brings a hand around to his chest and grips his shoulder as he lifts her up.

He backs away a few steps, holding her up by her bottom. She squeezes her thighs into his body, still pressing her chest into his, her tongue into his mouth. Suddenly, she releases her hold and drops down, backing away a step.

They look into one another's eyes for a few seconds, both breathless and shaking. Then, Rey begins to unbutton and remove her pants. She gives him a very clear nod to do the same. He does, heart beating wildly.

After a minute, they are both completely naked, just a foot away from one another. She steps towards him, looking up into his eyes, her chest grazing his.

He feels her intent, her resolve, but he still can't help but ask, "Are you sure?"

She doesn't break her gaze. "I have a strange feeling… like having faith in something you can't see. I think we're meant to do this. I think… this is what the Force bond is for." She slides her palms up his chest and wraps her fingers along the back of his head, bringing his mouth down to hers. His hands travel along her bare waist down to her backside. His skin is hot, as if a fire is trying to burst through from within.

Suddenly, he lifts her up and she wraps her legs around him as he turns and pushes her back against the wall behind him. The air, the wall, is cold but they are both burning hot. They stop for a breath, both panting heavily. He starts to push against her, pulling her up, gripping her bare skin. She reaches down, sliding her hand down his belly to grab him, then pulls him up inside of her.

His heart practically stops. She feels warm and wet, gripping him tightly. They both gaze directly into one another's eyes as he pushes into her against the wall, trembling with pleasure. She lets out a soft moan. He can feel her pleasure too. They can feel each other's through the bond. They are both sticky and sweaty, chests sliding up and down against one another as he thrusts into her, slowly at first. She squeezes her thighs and grips his backside as she feels him moving, warm and throbbing, deep inside her.

They both revel in one another's pleasure, hearts racing, blood quickening, her tightening and him groaning at the sensation. They lose themselves in the Force bond, two halves of a whole. As their pleasure mounts, so does the Force coursing through them. They feel tethered to one another, like one being, a concentration of unimaginable power. They are one with not only each other but with the Force, this spirit of life and death thrumming in and all around them.

He grips her hot skin and pulls her into him as he picks up his pace. Her arms are around his shoulders now, fingernails digging into his flesh. He feels her tightening, clenching, more and more, as he thrusts into her. Her heart is beating faster. So is his. Her thighs begin to quiver as her pleasure rises and she tightens around him even more. He pushes into her, harder and harder until he feels her go over the edge, undulating, swelling, her fingernails breaking through his flesh. He thrusts, faster and deeper, as he feels her explode, heart racing out of control, biting her lower lip. He's throbbing, losing control more and more with every second until he climaxes with her, both gasping, eyes locked, feeling their own pleasure and the other's all at once.

Gradually, their heartbeats begin to slow. She's limp in his arms and he's almost too weak to hold her up anymore. He lifts her and she slides off him; then he sets her on the floor. She places her palms on his chest. He brings his hands to her hips and looks down at her with concern.

Rey's crying… but she's not sad. She's overwhelmed by everything they just felt together—the shared pleasure, the spiritual connection through the Force, binding them together as though they were one soul.

He cups her face, brushing her tears away with his thumbs. Then he leans over to rest his forehead on the top of her head, eyes closed. They stand there silently, breathing together. Then, she brings her finger to his chin to lift it and bring his lips down to hers. She kisses him softly. She pulls away and their eyes lock once more.

For a few final moments, they both focus on this one thing they have in common, their love, this powerful connection through the Force. Then, Rey moves to the side and walks away. She begins to re-dress. He follows her lead, silently.

His mind is racing. He can't deny what just happened. This wasn't his first time… but it was the first time he felt the act hold significance beyond just physical pleasure. He can't quite put his finger on it, but what he just experienced—what they just experienced—through the Force made him feel… how did she put it? Like part of a larger story. He just doesn't know how.

As if she senses his thoughts, he hears her ask behind him, "And you're sure the Force is all bad?" with a little playfulness in her voice.

He can't stop his lips from turning upwards. "I won't deny it doesn't have certain… very satisfying enhancements."

He turns towards her, his expression becoming more serious. "But what I'm doing is for the best, for the galaxy."

She's fully dressed now, standing up straight a few paces ahead him, feet firmly planted. She has a solemn look on her face.

"You know I'm going to try to stop you, right?" She says this more like a statement than a question.

He looks directly back at her. "I really wish you wouldn't."

They both stare intently at one another in silence.

"Rey," he says with a warning in his voice, "please stay out of my way. I don't want to hurt you, but…" his voice trails off. He can't even say it. He's even less certain he can actually do it.

She doesn't break her gaze. He can feel her resolve. She's not backing down.

"We'll see each other again," she assures him softly. Then just like that, she disappears before his eyes.

He stands, cold and alone, in the empty room. He focuses on his breathing, still faster than normal. He brings his hand to his face and turns towards the window, thinking. Slowly, a sense of alarm begins to rise in his belly, up through his chest and into his throat. He turns swiftly to exit the room.

He needs to move up his timeline.

After seeing anger consume Rey today, he's more confident than ever that he's doing the right thing. He won't let her become corroded as he has. He's going to save her, and give her a peaceful galaxy to live in. She'll still find purpose and happiness without the Force. He feels certain of that.

He feels a twist in his heart.

He wishes he can share in her happiness, that there was another way to do this… another option. But she made it very clear to him today that there is only one option.

Still, it is a sweet surprise, a final parting gift to know that he won't die with Rey hating him. Just the opposite. Despite all their differences, despite her disapproval of his actions, both past and present, she loves him.

It's certainly not something he deserves.

He thinks about Rey. He thinks about the difference between how they felt about each other when they first met and how they feel about each other now. He thinks about the role the Force has played in this drastic evolution. He thinks about how he felt just a few minutes ago, when they were one—filled with the Force, filled with a power and purpose he doesn't quite understand. And he thinks back to what Rey said to him just before… her voice, calm and confident, echoes in his mind…

"I think we're meant to do this. I think this is what the Force bond is for."

He feels a chink of doubt crack through his resolve.

He forcefully pushes back against it, but it lingers persistently, like an uncomfortable truth trying to break through to the surface.


	12. Chapter 11: The Chosen One

Chapter 11: The Chosen One (Final Chapter)

"Approaching target for strike two."

"Right behind you, Poe."

"Me too."

"I'm with you."

The calm confidence in Poe's gut strengthens every time he hears another voice chime in on the other end of his comm.

A tight formation of X-wing Starfighters descends upon the nearest Dreadnought.

"Shields are still up, so focus on the cannons," Poe reminds everyone. "I'm going for the reactor core."

"No word from Finn? We can't blow up cannons forever." Hala sounds anxious.

"When I know, you'll know," Poe assures her. The truth is, he's worried too. For more reasons than one. They had to move up their attack on Starkiller 2 after they discovered the First Order's plan to destroy the Concord Dawn system. That really put Finn and his team under the gun. Then, they arrived to find their intel hadn't adequately prepared them for the number of First Order forces that would be here. It seems like every damn Dreadnaught and Star Destroyer in the entire fleet is crowded around this ugly, mechanized weapon-planet.

But Poe can honestly say he's faced worse odds. Despite all logic, his signature smug self-assurance is undeterred.

As they swoop down on the steely grey Dreadnought, he hears a sensor go off to his right. A large cluster of unidentified aircraft is approaching quickly.

"We've got company," Pavan warns the group.

"Cam and Vido, come with me to take out those TIE fighters. Everybody else—keep going for the cannons." Hala and her crew veer sharply to the right. The rest of them fan out over the wide expanse of the ship, exploding cannons right and left. Except for Poe. He's dead center and going straight for the reactor. It's a long shot… most would say an impossible shot. But that's never stopped him before.

As he approaches, his sensor zeroes in on the target… almost there…. That's it! He takes the shot… but it misses. Expertly, he maneuvers up just in time to avoid crashing into a large side panel on the Dreadnought. He veers to the left and begins taking out an oncoming cadre of TIE fighters.

"Hala, how many fighters do you have left over there?" Poe barely gets the question out, tucking and diving towards another enemy craft just below.

"Hala's gone, Poe. We've got eight and more on the way," Vido responds.

Poe's heart drops. He's never gotten used to it… hearing he lost a good friend forever, just like that, in a split second.

"I'm coming around for a second shot at that reactor." Adrenaline coursing through him, he suddenly maneuvers up and around to the center of the ship.

"Yes! _Yes!_ Look at that! Look at that!" Shin's voice blasts through his comm.

"Whoa, what's going on?'

"Shields are down! Shields are down!" Shin repeats.

"Alright guys, now the fun begins," Poe tells his squad. _Atta boy, Finn._

"Whoa…it looks like all of them are down," he hears Faisal.

"What do you mean all of them?" Poe asks confused.

"Seriously, it's all of them," Cam confirms. "I can see it. Our squads are moving in on Dreadnoughts and Star Destroyers all over the place."

Damn… he didn't know Finn was that good. It seems improbable he'd be able to shut down the entire fleet's shields at once, but Poe's never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

This makes it ten times more likely that a shot near the reactor will lead to a chain reaction reaching the core. He's coming up on it again… just a little closer… little more… _Now!_ This time, the shot takes.

"Alright boys and girls, this one's down. On to the next one!" Poe declares triumphantly.

"Holy shit…"

"What?" But Poe sees it right after the question escapes him. All around him Dreadnoughts and Star Destroyers are exploding in billows of fire bursting from within.

"Whoa… is this us? Are we doing this?" Poe's bewildered. This is a welcome development, but what the…?

"Poe."

Suddenly he hears General Leia's voice on the other end of his comm.

"Poe, you and your squad need to get out of there now."

"Are you kidding me?" Poe asks, incredulous. "If their shields are down out here, it could be happening on the ground in Starkiller 2. This is our chance. We've gotta get down there."

"No. That planet is about to implode. It's already started. You need to get away from it as soon as you can."

"What?! Is that because of us? What the hell is going on?"

"It's not us, it's…" the General pauses for a second. "It's Kylo Ren."

Poe lets out a scoff of disbelief. "Are you telling me the Supreme Leader of the First Order just destroyed his own fleet and super weapon?"

"Yes," Leia replies emphatically. "And if you don't get your squad out of there now, all of you will be destroyed with them. _Get_. _Out_. _Now_."

Dazed, Poe switches his comm connection.

"Alright guys," he tells the others. "General just told me Starkiller 2 is destabilizing. Orders are to get out now. But feel free to take out any TIE fighters on your way."

He switches connection back to the General, "Are you sure about this? Are you sure this is Kylo Ren?"

"I didn't believe it either when Rey told me," the General answers. "But I believe what I'm seeing right now. Starkiller is collapsing, the fleet is imploding, and we hardly did a thing. I don't know how else to explain it."

" _Where is Rey?_ "

…

Rey races across the gritty, rocky earth, heart pounding in her chest. This place is exactly how she imagined a volcanic planet would be like—sweltering heat crushing in all around her, putrid smell of sulfur clinging to her nose, her hair, her skin. She's panting, each breath inviting a giant gulp of rotten air into her lungs. But she feels strong and full of energy.

She slept like a baby last night. For the first time in weeks.

No dreams about suffering. No dreams about despair. No dreams about abandoned children, families torn apart, men chained like animals, beings crying out to her in jungles and forests and deserts on planets across the galaxy.

Only a deep sleep. And an uncanny peacefulness … like being suspended, weightless and warm, curled in a ball inside of a calm and steady womb. And the whispers.

"You are the Living Word. And when the time is right, you will know what to do."

Everything's coming to a head. She can feel the urgency steadily rising within her… it's almost time. But for what, she still doesn't know.

She's stopped trying to figure it out, all of it, incessantly reworking the pieces of the puzzle in her mind. She's letting her feelings guide her. Her instincts. Somehow, she knows it's the right thing to do. And, to her surprise, she's finding that if she follows her intuition, she gets closer and closer to the truth, to finding out what all of this means.

Like yesterday. With Ben. She knew in the moment it was the best way to show him that he's wrong about the Force. It can be a gift. And then they both experienced it together—the unthinkable concentration of power when they become one, the ability to at once limitlessly draw upon the Force and melt into it indistinguishably.. It was like when he healed her in the cave, but more. It's not just that they could combine powers… they could actually dissolve into the Force.

They can do that for a reason. But Rey doesn't know what it is yet. She only knows what she felt.

And she knows he felt it too. She knows she planted a strong seed of doubt in his mind. But it hasn't had much time to grow. Not much time at all.

She sees it up ahead of her… impossibly tall, made completely of thick, glossy obsidian. Darth Vader's old stronghold, built into the largest volcano on the planet. It's been abandoned for decades but it's not empty. Not right now. She senses the power of the artifacts. And him. But he won't sense her. She's cloaked again. If he feels her coming, he'll start to rush.

Even still, she's running out of time.

Suddenly, she hears her comm crackle. She grabs it from her waist, pumping ahead at full speed.

"Rey…" She hears General Leia's voice on the other end. "It's happening, just like you said it would. I… I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

Cold fear washes over her. _She might be too late…_

"Rey…" The emotion in the General's voice is unmistakable, even over the shaky comm connection.

Rey doesn't have time for this. But she knows exactly what Leia needs to hear right now. She jerks the comm to her lips.

"General, I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure you see your son again. Do you believe in me?"

" _Yes._ Yes, Rey. I do. _Go_!"

She shoves the comm back into place.

She means what she told the General. She's not going to kill Ben. He can't die. He has to live… they have a destiny to fulfill. Together. She doesn't know what it is yet, but she knows what she feels through their bond— purpose. The Force awakened in her for a reason. It brought her together with Ben for a reason. She doesn't have to fully understand it to have faith in it. She has faith in the Force. She has faith in her conviction that Ben is wrong. People need the Force. They need the hope it brings, the sense of possibility. They need to believe that there is a power greater than themselves, a power that can bring change, that can make their lives better. Take away people's ability to access this power and you take away more than their ability to abuse it. You take away their ability to grow through it. To discover new truths about life, about the galaxy. You take away people's ability to truly understand that each life is not an aimless, individual speck… each life belongs to a larger tapestry of all life in the galaxy, an interweaving of millions of destinies into one.

She almost slips as she begins running up the obsidian ramp to the entrance of the castle. When she bursts into the wide room, she beelines across it straight to the corridor on the right side. When she emerges into a second room, she races for the long, winding staircase in the middle. It leads straight up to the heart of the volcano.

She's never been here, yet she knows exactly where to go.

Her feet pound up the twisting stairs, around and around and around. She gets dizzy racing up them at this speed, but she never slows down. She's running so fast that she doesn't see the black mass huddled near the top of the staircase. She trips right over it, landing hard on her palms. She scrambles up and looks back.

One of the Knights of Ren. Clearly dead, a large opening in the center of her body. A lightsaber wound.

Another dead Knight lies just ahead of her. And another.

Rey runs along the wide, open overpass leading straight into the volcano. It's even hotter up here, if that's possible. She's soaked in sweat, clothes clinging uncomfortably to her.

Four… Five…

She keeps count as she runs past their lifeless bodies.

Six.

All six Knights are dead. He truly is set on taking everything with him when he goes… the entire First Order fleet, the Starkiller weapon, the Knights of Ren… everything that's been responsible for the reign of terror across this galaxy is gone. Except for him. He's still here.

She begins to slow down. She's here. He hasn't begun yet… there's still time.

She stands for a moment, closing her eyes, trying to slow her heartbeat, her breathing. She imagines she's in last night's dream, curled in the fetal position, weightless and peaceful. She feels the Force thrumming inside of and all around her. A calm stillness begins to overtake her, starting from her heart and spreading out all the way through her limbs. She breathes deeply and deliberately.

Still in Force stealth, she starts to carefully walk forward through the rocky, arch-shaped entrance into the core of the volcano.

The image she sees before her is both familiar and surreal. She's seen it so many times since she first touched Jian on Cantonica… in visions and dreams… but now she's actually here. She's standing here… hard, black grit under her feet, bits of ash drifting through the air, spurts of molten lava pushing up through small cracks in the ground.

He's standing ahead in the distance between two rows of short columns, back turned to her and head bowed. She sees the crystal, the Darkstaff, the Jedi Texts, and nine others… one artifact on each column, Sith on the left, Jedi on the right.

He's dead center. His arms are at his sides. His focus is razor sharp, almost as if he's in a trance. She sees his fingers begin to gradually widen and extend out. Slowly, he raises his arms on either side of him, palms open to the artifacts. He's about to begin…

"Ben."

She says the words softly. His head jerks up immediately, and he swiftly turns to face her. His expression is even and calm, belying his emotions. She senses the contradictions tearing through him… panic and relief, anger and peace of mind. He's infuriated she managed to get here in spite of his rushed timeline. And yet he's glad to see her anyway.

He walks towards her. She walks towards him. They don't break eye contact.

"Don't do this." She looks into him intently. "What you're doing… it isn't balance. It's just more destruction."

He lets out a burst of air.

"Always so sure of yourself…" His tone is condescending. "A student of the Force for _one year_ , and yet you think you know better than I how to achieve balance. Tell me, what gives a girl who knows so little about the Force—its history and its usage—such confidence, such self-righteous certainty?"

 _You are the Living Word._

She gives him an almost sly, half smile. "It's who I am."

His eyes darken. "No, it's not. I've already told you who you are. You're nobody. You come from nothing. I'm the Chosen One, heir of the Skywalker legacy. I know the Force better than anyone living. And I know what needs to be done."

She takes a step towards him. "If I'm no one, then why am I so powerful? If you're so important and I'm so insignificant, why did the Force bind us together, grant us the ability to combine our power, to become one with each other and the Force?"

Ah… there it is. The seed of doubt. He's struggling with it, struggling against it… but he cannot deny the truth of what they experienced together. For the first time, he looks away. Then he looks back, taking a step towards her.

"Maybe you're right." Her eyes widen in surprise at his words. She feels her heart quicken with hope.

"I'll die if I do this by myself," he continues. "But if you do it with me, we'll both live."

Her heart drops.

"We can be together, _we can survive this together_ , if you'd just stop being so stubborn, open your eyes, and accept the truth of what I've told you. The Force is a corruption. It's destroyed this galaxy through those who wield it. It's time for the destruction to end."

He extends a gloved hand towards her.

"This is the last time I'm going to ask you," he intones quietly. "It's time to let old things die. The Sith... the Jedi... all schools of the Force. Join me, and together we can bring balance to the galaxy."

As he speaks the familiar words, Rey looks down, a heavy weight bearing on her spirit. Not again… she doesn't want to be in this position _again_. She sighs and looks back up at him.

" _Please_ ," he begs her.

She closes her eyes as tears spill over her cheeks. Her heart is breaking. She can't look at him right now.

Then she feels it. A chink in her resolve. What if he's right? What if _this_ is what they're destined to do together? The Force… she still knows so little…

 _You are the Living Word._

She exhales sharply and opens her eyes. It's not time yet. If it were, she would know. She can sense his disappointment. He reads her resolve… he knows where this is going. She unsheathes her lightsaber.

" _Rey_ ," his voice is heavy, his eyes are pleading. "Please don't make me do this."

She turns it on, the electric humming breaking the silence.

He lets out a long exhale and closes his eyes. Reluctance overwhelms him, blocking out all other emotions. His shoulders slump. He hates what he has to do next.

He opens his eyes and unsheathes his weapon, stomping the ground as he turns it on.

They glare at each other, both furious and heartbroken that the other refuses to bend.

Kylo twirls his lightsaber once and moves to the right, beginning to circle her. She moves to the right as well, circling away from him. Their eyes are still deadlocked. They move around one another, each guarded and alert.

In an instant, Rey brings her free hand up and releases a blinding flash of light. But Kylo senses her intent and looks away, closing his eyes just in time.

He lunges towards her and she towards him, his red blade clashing with the blue edge of her saber. They push against one another, glaring. Suddenly, he forces her back and she stumbles. He snatches her free arm and jerks her to his chest, twisting it behind her back. He clutches her body tightly with one arm, lightsaber still on and burning hot next to her face and his. She switches hers off, tensing and fighting to break free of his grip.

"Rey, I _do not_ want to hurt you," he growls as he tries to hold her still. Pressing her twisted arm hard between her back and his chest, he wrests his arm out from behind her and begins to extend a hand over her head.

For a moment, she panics. He's going to try to knock her out like he did when they first met on Takodana.

Immediately, she closes her eyes and concentrates on the Force flowing through her. She feels her mind grow calm and rock solid. She's not the defenseless girl she was then. He can't break through.

She's not fighting his grip now. She's tranquil and focused. As he tries to pierce her mind, she concentrates on him, his urgency… he's so preoccupied with his objective, his guard is down. She feels herself melt into him, melt into his mind.

A second later, he loosens his hold on her body and she wrenches away, his muscles momentarily acting outside his will. She bursts forward several paces and turns back towards him. She feels his shock… and then his anger.

In one swift motion, he reaches out and she feels her throat constrict. No air can get in. She resists the urge to bring her hands up to her neck. Instead, she raises a hand and Force-slams him back, releasing his grip on her. She takes in a big gulp of air as he scrambles to his feet.

She senses his growing impatience.

He charges towards her, lightsaber drawn. He twirls his blade swiftly at his side, then thrusts it precisely towards her chest. She tucks and rolls behind him, then shoots up to bring the red side of her blade to meet his. Before he can push her back, she ducks and swings the other side of her blade towards his body.

He sidesteps away adeptly and whirls his saber around to hit the right side of her blade, causing it to graze and burn her upper arm. She lets out a hiss of pain, crouching down and fueling the Force to propel her upwards, flipping over his head. As she sails over him, he pivots around to meet her with another precise strike before she lands.

They go like this for a while, him thrashing and thrusting with hard, precise hits and her tucking and rolling and flipping, dodging some strikes and fending off others, twirling her lightsaber around her, taking every opportunity to return his strikes with her own.

Rey's expending twice as much energy as he is with constant swift, agile movements— tumbling, back flipping, and jumping—and yet he's the one who's beginning to tire. She can sense him fight his exhaustion. She's starting to suspect he hasn't slept since the last time she saw him.

But his fierce resolve, his fiery sense of purpose drives him onward. As her arm stretches behind her in preparation for another blow, he gives a hard, swift kick to the center of her chest. She flies backs and lands with a thud, sliding towards a pool of molten lava. She grinds her palms into the dirt, sharp grit making tiny slices in her skin, stopping herself just in time. She tries to get up, but finds that she can't move.

Kylo stands a few paces ahead of her, arm extended, holding Rey in place. She fights him as he pushes her ever so slightly towards the lava. She grits her teeth and groans with effort, trying to break through his hold. She balls her hands into fists, pushing them like anchors into the ground, but she's so close to the lava she feels her skin begin to burn. She cries out as she watches the flesh on the back of her hands turn red.

Finally, she casts him off and scrambles to her feet. Without thinking, she closes her eyes and projects a copy of herself next to him. He knows it's a trick, yet it distracts him long enough for her to pull his feet right out from under him. As he lies flat on his back, she charges towards him. He sits up quickly to Force-slam her back before she can reach him.

Rey flips back onto her feet. For a moment, they stare at each other, crouching and breathing heavily.

They've both been holding back. But the time for playing nice is quickly coming to an end.

Suddenly, he stands and turns his back to her. _What is he doing?_

Just as suddenly, he whips back around and a ball of energy like a tiny electric storm comes flying straight towards her. She doesn't dodge it in time. When it hits her, shocks of blinding pain course through her body, bringing her down to the floor, writhing helplessly. It couldn't have lasted longer than a few seconds, but it felt like hours, every moment introducing a new agony the likes of which she's never felt before. Just as she recovers enough to try to push herself back up, another burst of pain explodes inside her, causing her to curl up shuddering and quivering on the floor again.

Tears stream down her face as the electric jolts finally die down. She's on her side, desperately gasping for a full breath but she can only manage sharp, short inhales. She whimpers in pain as she places a trembling palm on the earth to push herself up.

She looks ahead of her. He's kneeling on one knee with his head bowed, face in his palm. It slides down his face as he looks up at her. He's crying too. He extends a hand out to try to hold her in place once more.

"Rey, please, this is _killing_ me." His eyes are pained and desperate.

She would scoff if she could breathe properly. Killin _g him?_

Her body is severely weakened but her mind is not. She concentrates, glaring at him, chipping away at his control over her. Slowly but surely, she breaks through and gets back up on her feet.

Kylo lets his hand drop beside his body, still on one knee. He looks down and shakes his head. Then he stands and switches his lightsaber on, striding towards her.

Her feet are firmly planted. She's unmoving, eyes closed. She lets herself be calm, even though she's still shaking and her heart's still racing and she can hear him getting closer and closer. She focuses on the Force thrumming inside her, filling her with a sense of peace and purpose. Suddenly, she feels a surge of energy course through her.

She opens her eyes, switching on her lightsaber and bursting forward. He's almost to her. Twirling her lightsaber around her, she leaps up before him and strikes down with her blade. He catches it with his saber. They resume their game of thrash and dodge, though with less vigor. She's weakened and he's exhausted.

She twirls her lightsaber around to meet his to his left, then swings it around to fend him off on the right. She bends and launches herself up into the air… and she sees it again. An opening. The one she keeps seeing and letting pass by.

This time, she takes it.

As his arm stretches high above his head, saber gripped tightly for another strike, she swings her saber towards it and cuts his hand clean off.

He roars out in pain and shock, falling to his knees. His hand, still gripping the saber, falls just behind him. She lands right next to it and takes a step back as he groans and hisses. He turns on his knees, eyes full of rage, and dives for his saber with his remaining hand. He switches it on and lunges towards her. She rears back and then strikes forward, aiming for his left shoulder… but he's rising as she strikes, so instead she drives her saber directly below his chest.

Rey is right in front of him, looking up into his eyes as they widen in disbelief. His mouth gapes open and he lets out a small gasp. Then he falls back, collapsing onto the earth.

Rey's body goes cold. For a second, everything seems to stop—her senses, her breathing, the blood pumping through her veins. She can't feel or hear anything.

"No," the word escapes as a whisper.

" _No!_ " This time her loud, anguished cry reverberates through the volcano as she drops to her knees beside him.

He's still alive, but he's fading fast. Rey can already hear his heartbeat slowing. She extends a hand out over the wound on his chest but doesn't touch it. It's bad… it's _really_ bad.

She doesn't know what to do. A panic rises in her belly, overtaking her. She's starting to shiver with terror. Tears are streaming down her face.

He's laying on his back, hands just under his wound, croaking as he tries to breath, only shallow, half-breaths.

"No. _No, no, no, no no_." She's shaking her head as she starts to sob. She crawls up next to his head and gently lifts it, putting it on her lap. With one hand, she's smoothing back his hair, with the other, she's caressing his cheek. Tears are pouring down her face and dripping on to him.

"I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to," she keeps repeating the words, sobbing and shaking violently.

"I know, I know." He can barely reply. He's trying to breathe, but it's getting harder and harder. His eyes lift up to meet hers. He's scared. But also strangely relieved.

He's dying. She can feel his Life Force start to leave him. He's dying and she has no idea what to do.

She squeezes her eyes shut as her sobs intensify. This can't be happening. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen. This wasn't how their story were supposed to end.

Then, for a moment, it's like time stops. The whole planet, the whole galaxy freezes around her. In her mind's eye, she sees waves on the oceans towering and still, birds halted mid-flight in the air, and people frozen in place in a once boisterous marketplace.

Then it enters her. Actually, it comes from within her—truth. Living, breathing truth welling up inside her, filling her with a calm, warm certainty. It's like it was there all along, hiding, waiting for the right time to release itself.

The chorus of whispers rises in the back of her mind, at first indistinguishable, but then crystal clear.

"You are the Living Word. And the time is _now_."

She begins to extend her hand towards Ben's wound.

He grabs her wrist with his remaining hand and looks up at her, eyes wild and terrified.

" _Don't_." He gasps desperately.

He senses it. She's about to do a lot more than try to heal him. He's not sure what, but he's knows he'll disapprove. Vehemently.

"Ben," Rey's panting, her voice desperate. "You're almost out of time. And I can't explain it to you; I can't explain how I know, but I know what I need to do. I know what _we_ need to do."

Still holding his head in her lap, she brings her hand back to his cheek.

"You were right… you were right all this time. It's time for the Jedi to end. For the Sith to end. You _are_ the Chosen One. You were meant to do this, to bring these artifacts here, to begin this… but we're meant to finish it." She feels his reluctance, his distrust of her…

She's trembling, tears streaming down her face. " _Please_. Please. Think about the bond. Think about what you felt with me yesterday. I know you felt it to. What's happening between us…. It's bigger than love. It's bigger than just us. We're bonded together for this moment, _right now_." His eyelids begin to droop as she speaks. He struggles to fully open them to return her gaze. She begins to sob even harder.

"Please. _Please,_ Ben. Just this once… _have faith in me_."

For a moment, everything around them melts away. It's just them, experiencing their own emotions and the other's all at once, her urgency and desperation, his fear and distrust. As she stares down into him, she begins to concentrate on how much she loves him. A man she should hate, but instead she sees his humanity—his instinctive kindness and compassion, instincts that that are so deeply rooted in him that they've survived years of him channeling darkness. She wants him to feel this. She lets her feelings pour into him, overwhelming him.

His eyes burn with longing and love. Finally… _finally_ … he gives her a small nod.

She immediately extends her hand over his wound and closes her eyes. She's never done this before, but the living, breathing truth inside guides her. She's halfway there already. She lets the love she feels for him course through her, imbuing it with the Force, and then she channels it into him.

At first, nothing happens. Then, she feels it begin to seep into her… Ben's power. Just as he did when he healed her in the cave, she draws from his power as well as her own to heal him.

She begins to relax as she feels his Life Force coming back, his heartbeat returning to normal.

As their immense power begins to concentrate between them, she raises her other hand and extends it towards the artifacts next to her.

It happens again… their souls seem to merge into one, as if they are a single, incredibly powerful Force-sensitive being. They melt into each other and into the Force. It's as if they no longer have physical bodies but are just spirits, one spirit— the Force.

They are raw power… power that is growing stronger and stronger. They both feel it. The Force rising and thickening, filling the air around them, more and more. It's surging and turbulent, electric and vibrant with new life. It's so much power that it almost feels as if it is about to burst, expanding outward so rapidly that the entire universe isn't enough to contain it.

Then, in an instant, the Force begins to ebb, releasing all around them. Slowly, their souls unmerge. They are individuals again—Rey and Ben.

Rey breathes heavily as she opens her eyes. She looks down at him. He looks up at her, relieved but also confused. Uncertain. Slowly, he sits up and inspects his body, touching where the mortal wound once was. He takes a deep breath. Then, he struggles to rise, clutching his injured arm into his chest.

Once he's upright, he walks over to the columns and stands in the center of them. Rey remains seated back on her feet. The artifacts are all gone, as if they disappeared into the Force. She watches him from behind, feeling his emotions gradually evolving… from confusion to understanding to anger.

"You just did…" he begins slowly, "the _exact opposite_ of what I came here to do."

"We did," she corrects him. She feels him wince in irritation.

"You strengthened the Force," he continues with rising indignation. "Now there will be _more_ people with the ability to wield it, _not less_."

She sighs and looks down, shoulders slumping. Of course he would react this way. Why did she expect anything different?

He swings around to face her with accusing eyes. "Is that what you call balance?"

"Yes." She answers without skipping a beat.

"You are a _fool_ ," he spits in response. "You have no idea what you've just done… a whole goddamned galaxy full of Force-sensitives…" He shakes his head as his voice trails off. "It's going to be chaos."

"No, it's going to be balance," she says confidently as she rises. "This is why the Force brought us together, Ben, brought us here. The Force will no longer belong to the Sith or the Jedi. Or to those with the right midiclorian count or the right bloodline. Or to Snoke or an elite team of dual wielders. It can belong to anyone, including nobodies like me. Like Jian. People who are alone and desperate and powerless… now they will have a reason to hope because some of their very own will be able to access this incredible power, the Force, to rise up and defend them, protect them. People just like your grandfather was… slaves. The forgotten and the downtrodden. Together, they will usher in a new age of the Force… an age where its power will not be a guarded secret, an initiation only for the few but an opportunity to change, to become better for the many. Together they will bring balance. And we are meant to lead them."

His eyebrows knit together, not quite catching her meaning. She begins to walk to him.

"Our destiny is bigger than what we did today." Her eyes are wide and clear, full of purpose. "This is just the beginning. We have work to do."

He grunts and shakes his head. "You want me to help you clean up your mess?"

"No," she says self-assuredly. She takes another step forward, right in front of him. She breaks her gaze and looks at his handless arm, still pressed tightly to his chest. She reaches both hands out and takes it gently, pulling it towards her. "You've devoted so much of your life to destruction," she muses softly, examining his wound. She looks up at him. "It's time for you to learn how to create. How to rebuild. I can help you."

He looks back at her with doubt… and partial assent. In the path to redemption he forged for himself, he never intended to live past today. But in a way, that's not a true redemption. A true redemption would require something much more difficult. It would require him to live… to face the consequences of what he's done… and try to make it right.

She feels fear wash over him. He's terrified he can't do it… Face everyone, face the destruction he's wrought… and he's afraid to live again. _Really_ live again. No more hiding behind a mask.

"Ben," she gasps, letting out a great exhale. Her eyes are wide and full of her own terror. Her own worst fear.

" _Please don't leave me alone_ ," she begs him.

His eyes soften. He brings his hand up to her cheek, caressing it with his thumb. He cocks his head, looking down at her. She senses his thoughts, his memories. The interrogation on Starkiller. When he looked inside her mind and saw how lonely she was… a constant, aching loneliness, gnawing at her in the night…

And he felt compassion for her. That was the end of him, right there. And the beginning.

He sighs heavily as he looks down at her, twitching his jaw. She senses his emotions… and fills with relief and a little excitement. She can't stop the corners of her lips from turning upwards. It's contagious. He shakes his head and leans down to kiss her softly. She returns his kiss, bringing her hands to his face. Gently, he pulls away and rests his forehead on hers. For a moment, they just focus on the warm glow they feel between them, a mutual love thrumming like a second heartbeat reassuringly inside them.

Gradually, he stands upright and extends his injured arm towards her.

"I need a medic" He says wryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course!" Rey says, a little guiltily, bringing her hands to his back and leading him towards the archway.

As they walk, she can't help but read him. He is still turbulent, uncertain, concerned about the consequences of what she just did. Still disapproving of the Force, at least as a tool that people can wield. Unsure of his role in this New Age, and his ability to be a leader in it.

Yet he's still willing to come with her, to live with her through this great change he never wanted to see happen, to try and find his place in it.

Just like he was willing to give over his power through her healing him, allowing her to fulfill her destiny as the Living Word. She knows what that means now. The Jedi texts… the artifacts… all the known knowledge about the Force. Its purpose. How it should be wielded. How it should not. The Light vs. The Dark. Over the centuries, it's become a blindness. It's like the Force has only been partially visible all this time. Now that it's stronger, it can finally show its true colors… and there are many more than two.

She's meant to show this to the galaxy, by living it and experiencing it. By exploring the Force in news ways. And leading others to as well. She's scared and excited all at once. Mostly, she's relieved to finally know why the Force awakened inside of her, why it swept her away from Jakku and brought her on this journey.

She reflects back on all of it, thinking about everything that has happened, that needed to happen, to bring her right here. To this moment.

The Force bond with Ben. It was a necessary ingredient. Without it, the galaxy would be forever embroiled in a violent tug of war between two sides. Though she senses its full purpose will continue to reveal itself in the coming years, now she at least feels confident in knowing the bond's reason for being.

Two great powers on the opposite ends of the Force, positioned to be enemies, to fight until one kills the other… They could never have united to fulfill their destiny if they weren't in love. They needed to love each other. If not for the bond, the compassion it nurtured in them, would they have bothered to listen to one another? To consider the other's side of the story? To do anything more than wish for the other's destruction? To, at the end of things, be willing to set aside all logic and have faith in the other?

No. The Force needed to bring them together like this to achieve its purpose, it's ultimate goal as an everlasting, omnipresent intelligence… balance. But balance is not a state of being; it's a process. A process in which they still have a role to play.

The sound of a ship overhead jerks Rey from her thoughts. She looks up and recognizes the General's transporter. It slows as it nears the long, wide overpass into the volcano and lands on the opposite end.

She feels Ben's heart quicken… He freezes in fear. He's both dreaded and longed for this moment for a long time.

She squeezes his arm and gently nudges him forward. He relents, but walks more slowly. The ramp opens from the bottom of the transporter and Rey sees the General walking down it before it even touches the ground. She walks forward a few paces towards them and stands. As they draw closer to her, they both feel it… Leia's joy. Pure joy. Rey knows the General has complex feelings about her son, but in this moment there is only pure, simple joy.

She fees Ben relax a little at this. She smiles.

Despite the happiness of the moment, not everything feels resolved. There is still work to do. She's the one responsible for bringing about this Revolution of the Force. Though most in the galaxy will still be unable to weld it, many more beings than ever before will be able to tap into it, to channel it… and they will discover new wonders that can be accomplished through its power.

But Rey knows that there is truth to what Ben says about the Force. It can be a corrupting influence. The discoveries that come from there being more Force-sensitives in the galaxy will inevitably bring terrors as well as wonders. She must step in and shape the course of this Revolution, make sure that use of the Force evolves in such a way that draws out its potential for good rather than facilitate its destructive possibilities.

And for that, she'll need him.

He'll be very reluctant. He'll need time. A lot of time.

But in the end, he'll step up to fulfill his destiny alongside her. They still have deep, significant differences between them, very different understandings of the role the Force can play in people's lives. He'll always be wary of it… But somehow, Rey knows this is a good thing. His cynicism will balance her optimism. When it comes to the qualities needed for good leadership, he has what she lacks and visa versa.

It won't be easy, but the love the Force nurtured between them will guide them through the years ahead, will help bridge the gaps between them. As long as they can keep that alive, she's confident that they will be able to rise to the challenge ahead, to lead the galaxy into a New Age of the Force… an age of balance.

 **I might update with epilogue chapters in a month. If you're interested in a continuation, let me know.**

 **Thank you for reading! May the Force be with you!**


	13. Chapter 12: The Man with No Name

Isolated shrieks tear through the night.

The village is in chaos. Flames consume makeshift abodes, lighting up the darkness with a sinister glow. People run screaming, desperately trying to dodge blaster fire. Few are successful.

A masked Kylo Ren surveys the scene, striding forward with a relaxed confidence that eerily contrasts with the war zone raging around him. Cadres of Stormtroopers advance, executing hysterical villagers with precision.

He slows as he nears a crude barricade made of heavy black sacks. He feels it… a presence on the other side. He stops for a moment just a foot in front of the wall. It's barely higher than his midsection. He could easily look over it, but he turns and begins walking to the end of it instead.

As he rounds the corner, red bursts of plasma shoot towards him. He easily deflects the blaster fire with his lightsaber. He sees his attacker crouching against the barricade ahead— a boy, no older than twelve from the looks of him. As Kylo approaches, the boy attempts to fire again but looks down in shock as his weapon flies out of his hand before he can pull the trigger. He gulps and looks up at the tall figure approaching him, frozen in fear.

Kylo Ren towers over the boy who looks up at him with wide eyes. He's too scared to run. He's even too scared to move. He just stares into the black mask above, almost as though he were hypnotized.

For a few seconds, Kylo stands unmoving, returning the boy's gaze. Then he raises his lightsaber high above is head. The boy flinches and falls backwards, realizing what's about to happen. He squeezes his eyes shut as the blade descends swiftly upon him—

Ben gasps as his eyes fly open. His body is hot and slick with sweat. He tries to catch his breath as he stares into the blackness above. He's foggy and disoriented, struggling to remember where he is exactly. The sheets stick to him as he rolls over, pressing a palm onto the mat to sit up. He swings his legs over the bed, bare feet connecting with cold floor below. He squints and looks around him. The room is beginning to take shape as his eyes adjust to the darkness… the door just ahead, the table to the left.

Suddenly, he twists his body around to look behind him. The image he sees brings him back to reality in an instant.

Rey lays on her side, eyes closed. She's breathing deeply, peacefully. One hand rests on her belly and the other is curled next to her forehead. She's wearing a thin undershirt and pants but is otherwise uncovered— no blanket, no sheet.

Slowly, he rests his body back down on the bed, turning towards her. He studies her as she sleeps. Her chest heaves softly with even breaths. Her face is serene and almost seems to glow. He stops himself from reaching out to touch her, from tracing the smooth angle of her eyebrow, slipping down the soft skin of her cheek to caress the curve of her lips.

To him, she's pure innocence. Full of peace and purpose. Unburdened by horrors perpetrated in the past.

A heavy feeling clenches in his gut, a familiar one that communicates implicitly.

He doesn't deserve her.

He lets his gaze linger on the soft angles of her face for a moment more. Then, he turns away. Carefully, he lifts himself from the bed and walks towards the door. It opens automatically, almost silently, as he exits into the hallway. He rubs his face with a hand as he staggers towards the kitchen. He stops at a side panel on the wall to check the time. Four hours until first light.

He pours a glass of water and sits at a nearby table. To his left is not a wall but a window, a giant window to the world outside. It's still dark, but a few things are illuminated by the tepid moonlight— a large, twisting tree, thick grass that gets thinner as it stretches out towards the soft curve of the ledge ahead. He can just make out the top of the path leading down to the beach a few feet below. The ocean is relatively calm, waves crashing gently against the rocks.

This is one of the most remote planets in the galaxy. Remote and uninhabited. Mostly. It's so off the charts it doesn't even have a name.

He grunts.

It seems fitting, living on a planet without a name. It suits him.

He's accepted being called by his birth name, but it still doesn't feel like his own. The word feels foreign on his lips. _Ben_. It's as though it's someone else's name, perhaps an alternate version of himself, from a universe where he was never Kylo Ren.

But, of course, he's not Kylo Ren either. Not anymore. So who is he?

Three years after Mustafar and he's still not sure.

It hasn't felt like three years. You'd think time would crawl by, living alone on this planet. But no. A year here is a blink of the eye compared to the years that came before.

He hasn't been here the entire time. Just most of it. He stayed with his mother and Rey for about three months. Stayed to finish what he started. Though he's still ambivalent about what Rey did on Mustafar, he's glad he lived on to crush every remnant of the First Order. Because he had to move up his timeline after Rey discovered his intentions, not all of the fleet was at Starkiller 2 when he destroyed it. And then there were the First Order stations across the core worlds, the massive production centers on planets they'd razed to the ground. It all had to go. Every Stormtrooper, every officer, every engineer…

Leia saw things differently, as did Rey. They both wanted to show mercy to those willing to seek it. He tried to convince them, to remind them how the First Order came to being in the first place— reborn from the ashes of the Empire. The decision to be merciful after the Battle of Endor, not to obliterate every person, place, and thing that had once been a part of the Imperial regime was their undoing… it sealed the New Republic's fate before it even started.

Surely, his mother wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Surely, she'd do what was necessary to ensure that the peace she fought so hard to win would last.

But no… even after all this time, she still doesn't understand how cutting short a few lives in the present can save millions in the long run.

Rey didn't like it either. She dug her heels in, just like his mother.

So he had to take matters into his own hands. It was regrettable, but necessary.

Because unlike them, he knows the First Order. He helped build it. He knows exactly how the machine was kept so well-oiled and functioning at maximum capacity… brainwashing. Every single member of the First Order complex had been subject to it, himself included. They lived and breathed ideology. They ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Absolutely _no one_ was accepted into the First Order fold unless he or she had proven unwavering loyalty to the cause. They ensured this with mind probes, again and again and again.

The galaxy simply couldn't take any chances. Even the defector had agreed with him. _Finn_. As far as he knows, this man is the only other person who was able to somehow reprogram himself, to overcome the First Order's conditioning. He wasn't at all surprised to learn that Finn became Force-sensitive after Mustafar. The capacity must have been buried deep within him, awakened when Rey released the power of the artifacts. In retrospect, it makes sense… his ability to resist First Order programming, how he could hold his own against him when they fought on Starkiller 1.

So he formed an alliance with Finn, him and that half-cocked pilot he'd captured and interrogated once— Poe.

The first time he saw the man again, he'd walked straight up to him and offered his hand. Ben remembers taking it tentatively.

"I can't say that I've been a fan of your work," Poe had said. "But I really liked that last bit… you know, the one where you blew up the entire First Order fleet with Starkiller 2. I was there. It was beautiful. Almost makes up for what you did before… _almost_." He gave him a wry look before walking away.

It was easy to convince the pilot of what needed to be done. Together, they organized a rogue mission to take out the remaining First Order bases and production centers. It was lightning warfare— they started in the core worlds and made it to the outer rim within a week. One by one, they reduced the remaining First Order stations into ashes.

He feels a swell of satisfaction thinking about it now. Yes, he's glad he lived on to see, _to know_ , that every speck of the First Order has been obliterated for good.

But, of course, there was fallout. His mother was _infuriated_ with him. She forgave him eventually, but only after several days of screaming followed by weeks of icy silence. Even now, whenever she comes to visit him, she finds a reason to tell him that not every problem can be solved by killing it. He can hear her now, see her sitting across from the table in front of him, forearms resting gently on the surface, hands clasped, leaning in with that all-knowing look…

"Destruction causes more problems than it solves, son. One day, you're going to learn that. You say one death today can save millions of lives tomorrow? Well, it can cause a million deaths just as easily. Murder begets resentment, vengeance, the most extreme reactions. But showing mercy, respect for life and dignity? _This inspires loyalty_. And hope. It shows that no one is ever too far gone to be forgiven. I'd think that you, of all people, would understand that."

Rey's reaction was different than his mother's. In some ways, it was worse. She never openly rebuked him. She had already asked so much of him… the leap of faith that day in the volcano. He vehemently disapproved her decision then, and yet he decided to live with it. The least she could do was return the favor.

So there was no screaming or accusations of betrayal from Rey. Instead, she was just quietly disappointed in him. He could sense it… her conviction that he made the wrong choice, _again_. Her dashed hope that he'd started a new life after Mustafar, a life that endeavored to accomplish something beyond destruction. Her fear that he hadn't really changed, that he even after everything that had happened he was still Kylo Ren, driven by an instinct to kill.

He sighs, wiping his face with a palm.

He needed to get away after the whole mess. He needed some time for self-reflection. So, he came here. He built this house, the green room… everything he needed to be self-sufficient. His mother would visit him. And Rey. But otherwise, he was the only intelligent life form on this planet. Most of the time, he was glad for it. He needed the solitude. After years of living under a mask of some sort, constantly guarding his words, his expressions, his thoughts, trying to project the image others expected to see… isolation was a relief. It was a chance to reset himself, to find out who he is when he doesn't have to perform for anyone or hide anything.

Of course, he's not alone here now. Truth be told, it's not entirely accurate to say he's lived alone here at all.

Suddenly, he feels a change. He gets up and quietly walks down the hall. He looks through the open door into his room.

The bed is empty.

She's gone. He always feels it when she leaves. He glances over at the panel to check the time. She overslept again.

He shakes his head as he walks back towards the kitchen. He told her to set an alarm, but she hates the thought of waking him up in the middle of the night. These days, she's almost always on Cantonica where morning comes about three hours earlier than here. But at least she's not on a planet where her night is his day and visa versa. He likes being able to sleep with her. She likes it too.

Rey doesn't travel to this planet often by ship. She comes maybe every six weeks or so. But through the Force bond, she's here every night.

The bond has grown even stronger over these past three years, mostly by necessity. He needed solitude. She needed to lead the galaxy in the New Age of the Force. The bond was the only way to bridge the gap. And what they've discovered they can do through it is nothing less than revolutionary.

It started very simply. They just needed to learn how to control it, how to trigger it. He remembers those evenings on the Resistance ship, curled up with her in bed, exhaustively reviewing every time the bond had brought them together, trying to remember what had happened that day, what they had been doing or thinking of just before. Then they discovered it— a pattern that had developed over time.

Love triggered the bond. But it wasn't just any kind of love. It was a deep, compassionate love, selfless and unconditional. They first realized it when Rey confessed what she thought of that day in the cave before he appeared and healed her. As she was coming to grips with the reality of her situation, her imminent death, a memory had entered her mind. Snoke's throne room. Him asking her to join him, hand extended, eyes begging her. He was so desperate not to be alone anymore. And despite all that she'd seen him do, despite her anger at his choice… her heart ached for him.

After they discovered the trigger, control came naturally. Truth be told, they're both relieved the other can no longer show up randomly without warning. Now, there are no surprises. He can reach out to her through the emotion, and she can reach out to him. He can choose to respond, to give in and appear before her. Or he can choose not to.

Of course, neither of them can give in every time. That's how they discovered they could communicate telepathically through the bond. One day, he reached out to her and she answered by speaking inside his mind. They can have an entire conversation this way. It was through one of these conversations that they happened upon a deeper level of the bond, a new ability that rattled them both.

Rey was telling him about a new recruit, a Force-sensitive girl she'd found and convinced to join her academy. Like all of her recruits, the girl was a former slave. She was young, only 13, but she'd lived most of her life in an underground pleasure house in Coruscant. Her story was sickening… but sadly not uncommon. As one might expect, her experiences made it difficult for her to trust anyone. She struggled to control her anger. She held everyone around her at arm's length, Rey included. One morning, she woke up to discover the girl had run away from the academy in the night. Rey was heartbroken. She felt like she failed the girl.

As she was telling him all of this in his mind, his heart began to feel heavy with the weight of her emotions… her guilt, her regret. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her feelings, giving himself over to an intense empathy the likes of which he'd never experienced before. Suddenly, the space around him shifted radically and an image he didn't recognize appeared before him. A small room, cluttered with half empty sacks, quarterstaffs, and other miscellany. There was a window to his left, sunlight streaming through it, lighting up thick layers of dust floating through the air. His vision was strangely blurred, hazed with liquid, as though he'd been crying. Then all at once, the realization hit him.

This wasn't his point of view. It was Rey's.

Immediately, he snapped back into his own eyes, back on the planet with no name.

They were both extremely shaken afterwards. This new development terrified them. The bond already had already done so much to blur their sense of individual selfhood. Then, to find out that empathetic connection through the bond could grant them the ability to experience life through the other's eyes, _literally_? To enter the other's mind as a witness to what they see and feel in the moment? It was all deeply unsettling.

But it didn't take long for Rey to see value in this new ability. It was the perfect way to begin pressing him to reengage with society, to lure him away from his isolated haven.

She'd been patient with him for the first year. She'd always known he was going to need some time by himself to recover. She just didn't realize how much time…

He'd refused all of her invitations to visit her new academy. She was bruised by this, but never said anything. Eventually, she stopped asking altogether. But after they discovered they could inhabit each other's minds, she realized it was new opportunity to, in a way, get him off the planet, perhaps even to get him to see what she'd been doing all of this time. She's desperate to convince him that his destiny is to join her in leading the galaxy through the New Age of the Force.

He knew exactly what she was up to, and he was extremely wary. He told her he wasn't ready to leave yet, but she pointed out that he wouldn't really be leaving. It was the perfect way to dip a toe in the water.

"Just one time," she begged him. "We don't even know how long we can do it. Aren't you curious?"

He was. But his curiosity did not outweigh his desire to avoid facing the reality of that day in the volcano. They don't talk about it much, mostly because Rey knows how he feels about it. He's accepted that it happened, accepted that it is a reality he must live in… but he hasn't accepted that it was the right thing to do. As Rey enthusiastically set out to find the new Force-sensitives now littered across the galaxy, he purposefully withdrew from them. They both know that, in a way, he's hiding out on this planet waiting to be proven right. Waiting for some disaster, a confirmation of his worst fear… that he betrayed his destiny that day on Mustafar. This uncomfortable truth is unspoken between them but not hidden. The Force bond makes hiding such things from each other impossible.

Eventually, he did humor her. He refused to engage with anyone at the academy, but he did agree to a walk through the marketplace. It was difficult to figure out how to trigger it again. They tried and failed many times before they were able to. It requires an unreserved willingness to give in the other's emotions, to let go of the familiar sense of being an individual and instead merge with another consciousness.

So far, they've been able to do it for about half an hour. They haven't tried to push it any further. The sensation is still unsettling and unwelcome, though illuminating. He's grown so accustomed to towering over most everyone around him. It felt strange to see the world through the perspective of someone small. People treat you differently, he discovered. They're more likely to ignore you, shove you, push past you, talk down to you. It was infuriating. He has a new respect for Rey's boundless self-confidence. He has no idea how she's managed to develop such self-certainty over the course of a life where people take one look at her and underestimate what she's capable of.

Rey enjoyed the experiment and when they reversed it the next time, she pointed out something he hadn't noticed. When they enter the other's mind, they can feel the other's Life Force… their soul. It's subtle but distinct. It's like being in a shell that's your size but still doesn't quite fit. The contours are different; the scars aren't your own.

They haven't done this often. Four times— twice he entered her mind and twice she entered his. So, Rey had to adjust her strategy. She found another way to cajole him into taking at least some measurable step forward to reengaging with the galaxy outside of this remote planet. He was apprehensive when she first suggested it, but she reminded him of something he needed to hear, however begrudgingly. It's time for him to do something with his life other than destroy. He needs to develop a side of himself he's kept buried for a long time, a side of himself he desperately tried to kill… It made sense that he should start with something small but not insignificant. Something that presented a challenge.

He'll give Rey this much— he's surprised how easily he's taken to it.

As if on cue, a loud thump from behind jerks him out of his thoughts. He gets up and quietly walks over to the bedroom door on the opposite side of the kitchen. For a moment, he closes his eyes and listens. Then he presses the side panel and the door whirs open, lights automatically turning on.

Both girls are on the floor next to the bed, Soya straddling her sister and pulling her hair wildly. Irenie is wrapped in blankets, beating her fists on the floor and yelling at Soya to get off of her. He swoops down, tucking his hands under the younger girl's arms and pulling her up. Soya's limbs flail about in the air as she screams, "No fair, no fair, no fair, no fair! _Let me down!_ "

"I'll let you down when you're calm," he replies evenly.

Immediately, Soya's body goes limp in his arms like a ragdoll. "See, I'm calm," she says matter-of-factly. He sets her down on the bed beside him.

Irenie rolls onto her back on the floor, struggling to unwrap the blankets around her. She points accusingly up at her sister. "She attacked me in my sleep! And I didn't do _anything_!"

At that, Soya scoffs. " _You stole my blankets_!" She shrieks in a high-pitched voice. "All of them!"

"Shhh…" he says as he holds an index finger to his lips. She ignores him.

" _Look at her!_ " She shrieks again. "She has three blankets all twisted on her cause she's trying to make it so I can't use them!"

"That's not true!" Irenie yells back. "I can't help it! I just turn round and round in my sleep and it happens by accident."

" _Liar!_ " Soya screams, jumping over the bed and down on top of her sister. He catches her before she lands, placing her back on the bed again. Irenie, finally free of the blankets, jumps up and lunges at her. His hand flies out to stop her. He's holding Soya by the scruff of her nightgown and Irenie by the arm, keeping the girls from thrashing each other.

"If you two don't settle down right now, neither of you are going swimming for a month." At that, both stop dead, looking up at him with horror. Soya raises both hands as if she's surrendering.

"That's more like it," he says as he lets both girls go. He looks at Irenie and nods towards the bed. "Sit down," he commands softly. She sits on the bed as far from Soya as possible. They eye each other resentfully.

He kneels down between them and takes a deep breath. He looks over to his right. "Soya, do you love your sister?" he asks her pointedly.

She huffs, crossing her arms and looking away. "Not when she steals my blankets!" She cries.

"That's not what I asked you," he replies curtly. "You either love her or you don't. Now which is it?" He raises an eyebrow. Soya avoids looking at him, letting out a great burst of air. Her eyes go up to the ceiling then immediately down to the floor. She shifts on the bed.

Finally, she looks up at him and he raises both eyebrows, tilting his head towards her. She rolls her eyes. "Fine. Ok. I love her. But I hate it when she steals my blankets!" She uncrosses her arms and glares at her sister.

"Alright then," he says in a definitive tone. "In this house, we don't hurt the people we love for any reason. _Ever_." He makes eye contact with Soya. She looks confused. He looks over at Irenie. She's perplexed as well.

"What?" he asks, twitching his head slightly, looking over at one girl and then the other.

"Well…" Irenie starts slowly. "Rey loves you, right?"

"Right," he says cautiously, not sure where she's going with this.

"Ok, so… didn't Rey give you that scar on your face?"

"Yeah, and isn't she the reason I can stab your right hand without hurting you?" Soya chimes in.

He rolls his eyes, picking up the blankets from the floor as he stands and begins to untwist them.

"First of all," he starts, "Rey didn't love me when she gave me this scar. And second of all… well, the other thing was a very special circumstance that will never happen again." He holds out a blanket for Irenie and she takes it. "And between you and me," he continues, lowering his voice as he leans down to give two blankets to Soya, "I think cutting off my hand was a little overkill. _But don't tell Rey I told you so_ ," he whispers before pulling back and winking at her. She smiles mischievously. Soya loves few things more than being privy to secrets.

He stands and tells the girls to tuck themselves in, watching them for a few seconds before turning towards the door. "Go back to bed," he commands as he leaves.

"What if Irenie steals my blankets again?!" Soya calls out worriedly behind him.

He turns around. "Then you can sleep in my bed."

Soya's eyes brighten, clearly pleased. "Ok!" She says enthusiastically, wiggling herself into her cocoon of blankets.

He presses a button on the panel to turn off the lights. He takes note of the time— three hours before sunrise. He leans against the door frame, watching them for a minute. Soya starts to feign sleep with snoring noises. Then, he quietly walks away, leaving the door open.

He needs to get some rest.

He heads back to his own bedroom and sinks down onto the mat, rolling over on his back. He sighs and stares up at the ceiling. His body feels heavy with exhaustion but his mind is still awake and alert.

Soya and Irenie have been living here for a little over a year. Irenie is eight and Soya turned six a month ago. They're both former slaves from Pasher.

After the destruction of the First Order, Rey joined a group of Resistance members dedicated to finding homes for all the former slave children. With financial backing arranged by his mother, they built orphanages on planets across the galaxy. They created a public record system that allowed estranged family members to find one another. They also matched orphaned children with families that would care for them, temporarily or permanently.

If he wasn't able to read her mind, he would've thought Rey was joking when she first suggested he become a foster parent. He's quite possibly the most ill-prepared father figure in the galaxy. When he reflects back on the father figures in his own life— Han, Luke, and then Snoke— none of them were exactly ideal models of parenting. Quite the opposite, in fact. He told Rey it was a terrible idea, not just for him but for the girls too. How could he possibly be a good father if he's never experienced an example of one in his life?

But Rey wouldn't take no for an answer.

"First of all, you don't have to be a good father, you just have to be an adequate one," she told him. "Secondly, it's temporary. I told Rose we could take them for a year or two, but if things go _really_ badly, we can always find somewhere else for them. But really, Ben, listen to me. _This is your chance._ You claim that you want to do more with your life than just kill and destroy. Here's the perfect opportunity for you to do the opposite— Protect. Nurture. Rebuild. Try to rebuild these girls' lives. Show them what it means to feel safe and cared for."

So… he relented. And he can honestly say he hasn't regretted the decision a single day since they arrived. Within a month of their being here, he realized that taking care of the girls is exactly what he needed to find himself.

His mind instinctively wanders to the nightmare that woke him up. The boy he slaughtered… he doesn't even remember which planet he was on. And he had killed him for what? For Snoke. For the zealous belief that he'd ignited in him—that he was the true Chosen One. But what did killing that boy have to do with fulfilling his destiny as he understood it at the time? For the life of him, he can't remember. It probably meant everything to him then. Now it's just another long-forgotten mission for the First Order.

He increasingly doesn't recognize the man who made those decisions. Soya and Irenie have a lot to do with that. When he interacts with them, when he sees himself reflected in their eyes… they never knew him as Kylo Ren. They only see Ben. The name feels most like his own when he hears it from them.

He can't erase his past. He can't even make up for it. Not really. Nothing will make up for the lives he took, the pain he caused. But creating a new life for these girls feels like the best way to confront it. To see it for what it truly is. And harness the memory of it to aspire to become someone else, someone better.

He meditates on this thought for a while: his yearning, his determination to reckon with his past through the choices he makes in the present. Without quite realizing it, he begins to drift into a deep sleep… a peaceful one this time.

When he awakens, sunlight is streaming through the windows. He's still flat on his back, facing the ceiling. He blinks a couple of times to let his vision adjust to the light. Then he begins to rise. He stops himself when he realizes Irenie is laying on him. But it's too late. She awakens as well and looks up at him with bleary eyes.

"Morning," he says with a soft smile.

"Morning," she says back almost at a whisper.

He scratches her back and she starts to giggle and flop around. He stops and sits up. She rolls over and pushes herself up with her palms, sitting back on her calves, wrapping the sheet around her. Her shoulders slump as she looks down. They sit quietly for a minute.

"Did you have a nightmare last night?" He asks finally. She nods her head without looking up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She shakes her head no, eyes still downcast.

He doesn't blame her. He's seen the kinds of things she dreams about. Soya's called him into the room some nights when she's thrashing around in bed. More than once, he's slipped into her mind to try to understand what's haunting her, to try to help her. The images he's seen there are a level of violent that no little girl should ever even know exists, much less have witnessed. But it's clear that they are memories, very real memories. Soya seems to have been spared these experiences, or at least she doesn't remember them. But her sister does. And they've left a deep, scarring impression, one she can't seem to shake. Most likely, she never will. She must learn to live with it.

He sighs, looking away.

"I'm sorry I woke everyone up last night," Irenie mumbles in a low voice.

"You didn't wake me up," he replies, crossing his legs and sitting up a bit. "I'd already been up for an hour. I had a nightmare too."

Upon hearing this, her eyes fly up to meet his. " _Really?_ " She asks incredulously.

"Yes, really," he confirms, looking back at her solemnly.

"What did you dream about?" She asks eagerly, leaning in a little. Then her head jerks back as if she just realized something. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," she hastily adds.

He hesitates, looking down for a moment.

"I dreamed about…" he starts slowly, like he's not quite sure where he's going. He looks back up at Irenie. "I dreamed about mistakes I made in the past. Terrible mistakes."

She looks back at him confused. "Like what?"

He takes in a deep breath, then lets it out. "Let's just say that not too long ago, I was a different man."

"What kind of man?" She probes.

He thinks for a few seconds. "A man who experienced some bad things. And then made some very bad choices." He looks at Irenie intently. "A lot of people in this galaxy experience some very bad things, terrible things. And those experiences aren't their fault. It's not fair. Not at all. But they still have to live with it… and they have to be careful not to let those experiences become an excuse to do bad things to other people. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Irenie nods her head very slowly. Her face scrunches a little. Her eyes start to well with tears.

" _I didn't mean to steal Soya's blankets_ ," she croaks with a sob.

He leans towards her, eyebrows knitted with concern. " _Hey…_ I know that. I'm sorry. That's not what I meant at all. I know it's not your fault." He holds out both hands towards her. She wipes away tears for a moment then takes them.

"Listen," he looks at her with gentle eyes. "Soya doesn't remember much about your lives before the slave rebellion. But you do. That's an extra burden you have to bear and she doesn't. She needs to understand that and respect it. I'm going to talk with her, ok?"

"Ok," she nods, sniffling a little. He gives her hands a slight squeeze before he lets them go. She takes a corner of the sheet and wipes it all around her face before bringing it to her nose and blowing into it. He shoots her a look.

"Sorry," Irenie says a little sheepishly.

"Get your sister and tell her it's time for breakfast," he says shaking his head. She scoots to the edge of the bed with the sheet still wrapped around her, then plops off. She lets it drop before running out the door.

Ben gets up to grab the sheet from the floor. He tosses it into a pile to his left before heading down the hallway. When he enters the kitchen, he sees Soya and Irenie through the large window. The older sister's pulling the younger one up from her cross-legged position in the grass. He turns to open a panel to the side. He hears the girls clattering into the house behind him.

"What's for breakfast?" Soya asks in a chipper voice.

"Stewfruit and yogurt," Irenie mimics her response in a robotic voice.

"Wrong," he corrects her. "Pears and yogurt."

"Yaaay!" Soya cries in response. Irenie rolls her eyes.

"Why can't you be easy to please like your sister," Ben asks Irenie, nodding his head towards Soya.

"Because I have higher standards than she does," she says, crossing her arms. He smiles wryly and shakes his head.

"Well, if you want to go swimming today, you'll eat what I feed you."

"Yesss," Soya lingers on the S sound as she rocks back and forth on her chair. "When can we swim? After breakfast?"

He swings around towards her. "Are you kidding me? How long have you lived here? You know you have to earn it first."

"What needs to be done today?" Irenie inquires absently.

"Other than your learning modules? Well, laundry to start." He looks over at her with a raised eyebrow. "The west wing of the green room isn't heating like it should, but I'll deal with that. While I'm working, you two can—"

The pit of his stomach drops abruptly. He feels like the wind has been knocked out of him. He tries to inhale, but no air comes through. The dish he's holding clatters to the floor. He brings a hand to his chest.

Irenie looks over at him curiously for a few seconds. Then, she gets up and runs towards him. He's hunching over with one hand on the counter, holding his body up and the other at his heart. He's trembling.

"Ben, are you ok?" She asks with alarm. His eyes are wide and his face is pale. He's scaring her. She's never seen him like this. He looks up at her as he tries to catch his breath.

"Can you take Soya outside for a few minutes?" He barely gets the question out.

"Alright," she says in an uncertain voice. Her eyes are still filled with worry when she turns and scurries back to the table.

He begins walking down the hall towards his room. Half way there, he closes his eyes and reaches out to Rey. The warmth that rises inside him curbs the sick feeling in his gut.

 _Did you feel that too?_ He asks her.

 _Yes._ She answers in his mind.

 _What happened?_

 _I don't know._ He can sense that she's just as shocked as he is. _I'm trying to contact Senate headquarters right now, but I can't get through. I'm heading to Coruscant in an hour. I'll come to you as soon as I can._

 _Don't,_ He replies definitively. _I'll meet you in Coruscant with the girls._

 _Really?_ He immediately brings a hand to his temple. Her enthusiastic reply just gave him a splitting headache.

 _Yes, really. I'll be there in a day._

Suddenly, she appears before him. Her eyes are red and her face is wet with tears. She looks up at him with a pained expression, taking a short inhale. She brings both hands up to frame his face without breaking her gaze. He's not sure if the aching he feels is his own her hers… likely, it's both.

She lets her hands slide down his cheeks all the way down to his chest before she wraps her arms around his body and hugs him tightly. He returns her embrace, losing himself in it, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I'm so sorry," she whispers.

"Me too," he replies softly.

She pulls away, placing her hands on his chest and looking up at him. Her eyes are full of emotion. She starts to say something but stops.

"I'll see you soon," he says quietly, still dazed. She nods her head a couple of times quickly. She lets her gaze linger for a few moments more before she disappears.

He walks into his room and sits down on the bed slowly. He stares into nothing ahead, stunned… numb. He's still trying to process the reality of what he just felt… what Rey felt too. His instinct is to deny it, but the feeling was unmistakable. It can only mean one thing.

His mother just died.


	14. Chapter 13: Welcome to the New Age

Chapter 2: Welcome to The New Age

The sky is grey and thick with clouds that threaten rain.

The city is eerily quiet. Rey's never heard a city as large as Coronet this quiet before. The bustling urban hum has been replaced by doleful music in the distance, the shuffling of feet, and the occasional whimper or sniffle. It's all the more remarkable given how many are here.

Thousands of mourners. Tens of thousands. Rey looks down the sloping hill to her right. The calm water of the bay in the distance reflects the grey of the sky. The funeral procession has begun far away, slowly ascending up the gentle curve of the thoroughfare. The street is framed by a thick layer of black dots mixed with the glow of candles on either side. It will be a while before the procession makes its way up here. Rey's only a quarter mile away from the Pantheon to the left where New Republic senators line the lowermost steps with bowed heads, hands clasped before them. There's an opening between them where the procession will make its way up through the twisting, ivory columns that buttress the wide, circular overhang. There, Leia will be read her last rites according to the custom of her home planet of Alderaan. Then she will be taken away and cremated, ashes scattered here, in her husband's home planet of Corellia.

Rey's throat tightens and she looks down, fixating on the shoes of the man standing in front of her. She concentrates on the image, trying to control her emotions… but a tear slips from the corner of her eye and down her cheek. She feels Ben squeeze her hand. She squeezes back and brings her other hand up to wipe her tear away. Irenie looks up at her with a mixture of curiosity and concern. The girl doesn't see Rey much, and she certainly never sees her like this.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She wants to be strong for Ben, strong like his mother.

But she can't get rid of that hollow feeling in her chest.

Leia was her champion. Her mentor. Her sage. Her benefactor. She has no idea how she's going to do this without her.

The last three years have not gone the way Rey expected, in more ways than one. There were consequences to what she did that day on Mustafar that she did not anticipate. She didn't consider how others in the galaxy would react to an abrupt influx of Force-sensitive beings. It's not like Force-sensitives now outnumber everyone else. Not even close. According to the data she's collected so far, about 1% of the galaxy is now Force sensitive. A significant increase from the old days, but not an unmanageable one.

Unfortunately, there are several powerful people in the galaxy who disagree. Powerful people with powerful friends in government. Understandably, the Senate is keen on reestablishing a humane sense of order across the systems under its protection. That means eliminating even the slightest threats to peace. The senators of this New Republic lived through the rise and fall of the First Order, right on the heels of the Empire. They are determined never to let it happen again. It's an admirable goal… but fear can sometimes cause people to go to extreme lengths to protect what they love. The Senate has been abuzz with talk of legislation to deal with the "Force use problem," especially in the past year.

Rey was not at all prepared to play a game of politics. _But Leia?_ Oh Leia… What that woman could accomplish in a room of warring senators is nothing short of extraordinary.

Leia swooped in and rescued Rey. There's really no other way to put it.

After Mustafar, she had no one to help her navigate this New Age of the Force. It was hard. She isn't meant to do this alone. But Ben… she quickly realized she'd overestimated his willingness to lead with her.

For a moment, Rey pauses her thoughts and clears her mind. She lets herself be still and open.

It's as she expected. Ben's lost in his own thoughts. Too preoccupied to be sensitive to hers. Since they learned how to control the bond, it's gotten easier to stay out of one another's heads. _Thankfully_. They can't read the other's thoughts without making a conscious effort, which, these days, is something they both avoid. However, they can still involuntarily feel the other's emotions sometimes, especially if the emotion is strong. Like now. She feels his numbness… he's still in shock. Leia wasn't ill or unwell. No one had any reason to believe that she wouldn't live another ten years at least. The doctors say she had a brain aneurism. It came out of nowhere.

He thought he had more time. They both did. Now there's nothing but the slow realization their time with Leia is up… and the fear that they wasted the opportunity.

Rey's been trying to imagine it, to picture it— how to move forward without Leia. But all she sees is a future with a blank where Leia should be.

Leia had given Rey what she needed more than anything— unwavering faith. When Rey confessed to her what had happened in the volcano, her destiny as revealed by the Force to be the Living Word, Leia believed her immediately. She told her that she knew from the moment she saw her that the Force had chosen her… that she had an important role to play in finding balance for the galaxy.

Leia set right to work. She provided Rey with the resources needed to establish her new school, an academy designed to train Force-sensitive former slaves. She helped secure funding for two other schools, each devoted to developing a newly discovered use of the Force. But most importantly, Leia went to battle in the Senate. She fought against the most reactionary legislation, like the proposal to register all Force-sensitives in a central database for law enforcement. She put together and chaired a committee charged with developing a fair but effective plan for keeping the galaxy safe in the New Age, one that would allow for growth of Force use while also curtailing its possible abuses. She worked together with Rey to build this plan. She made a consistent, genuine effort to understand Rey's calling to show the galaxy the true nature of the Force, that it's more complex than darkness and light. She visited her Force academy frequently as well as the other schools. She talked with the students there for hours, listening to them share their experiences since the Force had awakened in them.

Leia always did everything from the heart. She was more than just a mentor to Rey… she was a partner, a true friend.

And now she's gone.

Rey feels a pang in her chest, the hollow pull of a loneliness that she hasn't experienced in quite a while. As the empty feeling creeps upon her, in a strange way, she almost welcomes it. It's only hazily familiar, like trying to remember a dream. It reminds her how far she's come, how different her life is now. It's easy enough to banish the feeling. She looks to her left to see Finn standing with Rose, Jian directly in front of them. Irenie is standing in front of Ben, who's holding Rey with one hand and Soya with the other. More than ever before, Rey feels like part of a family, multiple families even. Her family with Ben, her family at the Force academy… She no longer leads a solitary life, detached, responsible only for her own survival. Now she's part of a community. And she's grateful for it every day.

And she's grateful for the past three years with Leia, for the opportunity to get to know her not just as a leader but as a person.

When they were fighting the First Order, Leia always seemed so tough, like nothing could get to her. Whatever she said, she said with confidence. Whatever she did, she did with certainty. Rey was shocked to find out how vulnerable she could be once she got to know her. Leia had her doubts and fears just like everyone else, maybe more so. But Leia taught her that fear isn't in itself indicative of weakness. It's what you choose to do with the fear.

Suddenly, a memory washes over her, a memory of the night before she and Leia first spoke on the Senate floor together. Rey was so nervous. She couldn't eat. She couldn't sleep. Leia stayed up with her late into the night, just talking with her, listening to her. She sat in a large chair in the living room, arms resting elegantly on either side, eyes clear and bright and knowing. Rey can hear the General's voice in her head now…

"You remember what the Jedi said about fear, right? That it's the first step along the path to the dark side? Well, I'm no Jedi. I'm not trained in the ways of the Force. But I've had many opportunities to learn a thing or two about fear in my lifetime. And while it's true fear can lead you to a dark place if you let it, that's not the only place it leads. When fear rises, you have a choice. Do you try to bury it, like my son? Do you run from it? Or do you confront it?"

Rey remembers Leia leaning in, eyes sparkling with that trademark look of resilience. That look that always meant one thing— Leia was ready to fight.

" _You confront it_ , _Rey_ " She punctuated the words, balling her right hand into a fist and shaking it in front of her face like a battle cry. "You stare it down. You stare at it long enough and you'll learn something about yourself, something you didn't know. Maybe something you need to change. Maybe something you need to accept. Maybe a truth you need to understand. The point is, Rey, don't let fear cripple you. Use it as an opportunity to self-reflect, to become _better_."

This was an important lesson for Rey to learn after Mustafar. She would be lying if she said never felt doubts about that day. The thought has occurred to her once or twice… that she should have taken his hand when he offered it to her in the volcano. But what if she had? What if she had helped him rid the galaxy of Force use? When she stops to examine it in the moment, she realizes the fear she's feeling isn't that she made the wrong choice that day. She feels confident in her destiny, in _their_ destiny. It's that Ben will never come to accept it and what that would mean for the galaxy… and their relationship.

This is her worst fear of all. But it doesn't keep her up at night. Rey can never entertain these kinds of doubts for long. Not with the way the Force feels inside her after Mustafar. It's difficult to explain, but she's connected to the Force in a way she wasn't before. It's like being able to partially read someone's mind, but instead of thoughts she reads impressions and intentions… vaguely formed and not at all like language. Something deeper. More visceral. She can't always make meaning out of what she reads, but it helps her understand, _to feel_ , how to live out her destiny. It reminds her that her story is still unfolding…

This heightened connection to the Force has also granted her new abilities through it, most notably a gift for detecting other Force-sensitives all around her. It's uncanny. It's not just that she can sense their exact location in her vicinity… sometimes she can feel them calling to her from far away. She's had dreams about Force-sensitives on other planets… beings she's never met. The dreams lead her to them.

This is no accident. She's certain this is the Force working through her to achieve balance. It guides her to where she needs to be… in the right place at the right time. Whenever fear of the future rises up and overwhelms her, Rey remembers what she feels through the Force— that it has a plan for her. And Ben. And it reveals that plan to her a little more every day.

 _If only she could get Ben to see this_. If only he could feel what she feels through the Force— _to know_ , a deep, instinctive knowledge, that they have a destiny to fulfill as two halves of a whole. Their different experiences with the Force— its awakening in her, its corruption in him— make them perfect complements as leaders in this New Age. Rey will always be naturally inclined to see Force use as an opportunity to improve people's lives… and Ben will always be forever aware of its potential to destroy them. He will be circumspect, help her see the pitfalls she can't see, the perfect companion for her, the trail-blazer, leading the galaxy to a new future, a new kind of peace.

They have been chosen for this.

Rey knows that. She just needs _Ben_ to know that. She's thought about asking him to merge with her mind and come with her into the deep recesses of her consciousness… then he'd feel exactly what she feels through her enhanced connection to the Force. But the likelihood that he'd agree with such a thing is slim to none.

Rey's thoughts halt abruptly. She feels a coldness invade her body… it's foreign. Not her own.

She lets go of Ben's hand and scans the area around her, not sure exactly what she's looking for. Ben casts his eyes in her direction with concern.

 _What's wrong?_ She hears him ask the question in her mind.

 _I'm not sure_ , she answers. _Stay here._

Finn, Rose, and Ben all turn to follow her with their eyes as she makes her way through the crowd away from the street. She begins walking down the sloping hill from the Pantheon behind her. As she does, the music accompanying the funeral procession grows louder… and the feeling of cold desperation in her gut grows stronger.

 _Rey..._ She hears a voice, weak and warbling, in her mind. It sounds human but she can't quite tell if it's male or female. Maybe a child?

 _Rey..._ It calls to her again as she picks up her pace, meandering through the crowd as swiftly as she can. She can't quite pinpoint the source of the voice. All she knows is that the sense of desperation intensifies the farther she walks.

 _Rey..._ Who is it? It's not someone she knows. But this person is Force-sensitive. That much is for sure. It's very strange that she can't sense the child's location. Is it possible the child isn't even on this planet?

Suddenly, Rey stops dead in her tracks. She feels a twist in her gut as the realization hits. This was a trick, an illusion to lure her away. She turns and begins to run back towards the Pantheon. Not two seconds later, she hears screams break out in the crowd far ahead… and the distinct electric hum of lightsabers.

The chaos whips the once solemn mourners into a feverish stampede. They slow Rey to a near crawl as she pushes and shoves, trying to run against the stream. She can't see over their heads to the Pantheon at all… she has no idea what's going on up there.

She feels Ben reach out to her through the bond.

 _You need to get back here NOW!_ His panic amplifies her own.

 _I'm trying._ She replies as she fights her way through the crowd. _Get Finn!_ _Protect the senators!_

In a moment of desperation, she holds out her palms and Force-pushes the crowd around her back a few steps, far enough to give her the space to leap high in the air and land on top of the building to her left. Now that she's above the crowd, she breaks into a run, swiftly jumping over rooftops and decks back towards the Pantheon. As she gets closer, she sees flashes of red, blue, and green just in front of the structure's steps. Her heart drops when she's finally near enough to make out the attackers.

Black-clad figures all in masks— just like Kylo Ren's.

One of them wields a double-sided lightsaber, flashes of red twirling around him as he strikes out wildly at Finn with one end, then the other— aiming for his core. Finn fends him off with his own saber every time, electric green clashing against the red. Finn's wearing him down… the attacker is getting frustrated. He's starting to make mistakes. But Finn's concentrating so intently on him that he doesn't sense the second attacker charging at him from behind. The masked figure lunges towards him, blue blade cutting through the air directly towards Finn's back. Just before it hits, the man wielding it flies up into the air and crashes down with a crack onto the uppermost steps of the Pantheon, saber clattering out of his hand.

For a split second, Rey sees Ben standing hand extended towards the man now sprawled at the top of the steps. The image is gone in the blink of an eye. Ben is a flurry of motion, kicking and thrashing and slamming. He expertly maneuvers his unstable, red hot lightsaber, striking out and fending off blows with ease. Six… no seven attackers surround him, desperately executing futile attempts to immobilize him, or at least to slow him down.

Rey unhooks her own lightsaber, igniting it as she leaps off the deck and into the fray. She lands crouching next to Finn. When the masked figures see she's arrived, one yells out something she doesn't quite catch in a low, distorted voice. They all bolt in different directions. Two of them leap up onto the roof of the building to the right, then immediately split up. Three others charge up the steps of the Pantheon. A couple more sprint down the thoroughfare towards the bay. The last two dive towards narrow openings between buildings, one to the left and one the right.

Ben's hand flies out, freezing one of the attackers fleeing to the left. Finn races behind the ones running through the Pantheon. Rey turns in pursuit of the two escaping towards the bay. She sees them split up, each dashing to a narrow opening on either side of the street. Rey follows the one heading right. The black figure slips between buildings down a slim, uneven lane. Rey turns down the lane not far behind him… actually her. The figure is shorter than Rey and lightning fast. Rey watches as she adeptly hops over obstacles, large holes and cracks in the slick concrete, darting around jagged blocks of building jutting out into the narrow lane. Suddenly, she tucks and disappears to the left. Rey rounds the corner after her directly into a large street crowded with people, many of them mourners dressed in black.

She follows the woman, threading swiftly through the crowd. It's thin enough to for Rey to easily weave between the throngs of people, charting out her path in advance through her Force senses. She's gaining on her. The woman's heart is racing. As she nears, Rey reaches out to sense her emotions— her terror. The speedy little attacker dodges around the crowd, but she's no match for Rey.

Finally, the woman missteps and crashes into a tall Bothan with a large mane and feline features. He lands on his back sprawling, long ears twitching wildly and legs flailing. Rey halts just before him, holding a hand out to freeze the masked woman on top of him. She leans down and wraps her fingers tightly around the attacker's upper arm, standing and pulling her off the startled creature. Rey feels the woman's panic as she drags her away to the edge of the crowd.

Suddenly, a high-pitched whine pierces her brain. Immediately, she releases her grip, shutting her eyes and hitting ground. Her head feels like it's about to explode, shrill ringing filling her consciousness with sharp, blinding pain. Holding her breathe, Rey finally opens her eyes and looks around her desperately. She's jamming her index fingers so hard in her ears it hurts. _Where is this coming from?_

Finally, the piercing whine stops. The people around Rey are still hunched over and kneeling, just starting to bring their hands away from their ears, blood trickling down their earlobes. She swings around looking for the masked attacker… but she doesn't see her anywhere. She closes her eyes and takes a breath, focusing on the Force as she blocks out the world around her. Then, Rey realizes something… the woman she was chasing is not Force-sensitive.

Slowly, she opens her eyes again. A few people to her left are gaping at her with curiosity. She turns and begins to head back to the Pantheon. Her breathing begins to even out as she swiftly makes her way down the same narrow lane where she just chased the attacker. There's still a ringing in her head. She cocks it to the side and pushes a palm against her right ear. Her body is pumping with adrenaline but her mind feels numb.

Rey's in shock. This is an extremely unfortunate turn at a very bad time. She clenches her fists and nervously taps her right knuckles against her side. The adrenaline in her veins begins to fray, becoming something else… anxiety. The kind that sticks in her chest, constricting her breath then creeping out into her body, further and further with every beat of her heart, getting faster and more frenetic.

She halts abruptly. She needs to collect herself… calm down before she sees Ben. She tries to take in a deep, full breath. Instead, she can only manage an unsatisfying half breath.

That will have to do.

She exits the lane into the wide, sloping street that was framed by thousands of mourners only a few minutes ago. Now it's practically empty. She heads up the street towards the large circular structure ahead. As she gets closer, she sees Ben kneeling next to the steps.

She breathes in sharply, still trying to achieve a sense of calm with no luck. She had expected to have more control over how she told Ben about this. But right now is not the time.

Ben looks up as Rey approaches. He's next to a black-clad figure sprawled on the ground. The figure appears to be rocking gently from side to side. As she gets nearer, she notices the man is unmasked. He's human, with dark skin and a bald head. She catches Ben's gaze briefly before she kneels down beside him to examine the attacker. The man is relatively young with a smooth face and thin, angular eyebrows. His eyes are rolled back so far in his head that they appear to be white without irises. He moans incomprehensibly. It sounds like he's trying to say something, but it comes out in low, staccato groans. His head rolls continuously to the right then the left.

Rey looks up at Ben with knitted eyebrows.

"I didn't do it," he informs her with a firm shake of his head.

"When... how did he get like this?" Rey asks, baffled.

"I froze him," Ben begins, "I forced him to the ground, I unmasked him, I began to interrogate him. At first, he seemed normal, conscious… then, out of nowhere, he became like this."

Rey reaches up to smooth a hand over the man's forehead. He doesn't react to her touch. He just continues groaning and turning his head rhythmically from side to side.

Rey stands abruptly and looks around… she sees the bodies of two senators and several members of the Senate Guard on the steps of the Pantheon. She sighs, closing her eyes and turning away. Suddenly, her head snaps towards Ben as he stands next to her.

"Where are the girls?" She asks with alarm.

"They're with Rose," Ben assures her. "But we should we go find them now."

"Finn," Rey says as she looks up towards the Pantheon. "He's close by." She begins walking up the steps, but Finn emerges at the top before she gets far. He's followed by two law enforcement droids.

"Did you capture one?" Ben asks as soon as he's close enough. There's an urgency in his voice.

"No," Finn shakes his head, still a bit breathless from the chase. He notices the disabled attacker on the ground and walks over to examine him. He kneels down and checks the man's pulse. He stares at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"What happened to him?" He looks up at Ben, barely concealing a hint of suspicion.

"I don't know." Ben replies evenly. His expression is neutral. But Rey can sense his emotions…

She sighs. This is going to be a very long evening.

"He'll need to be transferred to Coruscant." She says as she looks over at the law enforcement droids standing awkwardly and scanning the bodies littered across the steps. She walks over towards them.

"Excuse me," she says. One looks up at her. "When will the others arrive?" she asks. Before it can answer, her head swings around towards the bay. Well-armed security forces are advancing swiftly in rows up the street.

"We'll take it from here," the droid tells her in a dull, mechanical tone, turning back towards the bodies.

"He needs to be taken to Coruscant." She gestures to the attacker on the ground a few paces away.

"You don't have the authority to transfer prisoners," it answers mechanically without looking up.

"Record the prisoner as bound for the New Republic Confinement Center on the next penal ship to Coruscant," she commands the droid firmly. "By the authority of Senator Talla Garr. The orders will be sent to you from Senate headquarters in half an hour."

The droid finally looks up at her. It leans around her to peek at the black-clad attacker still on the ground, then snaps back. "Entering transfers without authorization is against my protocol," it responds. "Stay with the prisoner until authorization is received." It returns to scanning the bodies.

She turns a heel and walks back towards Finn and Ben. The latter is kneeling, hovering a hand close over the man's head, trying to search his mind. Rey slows as she nears them.

"I have to stay here with him," she tells Finn. She looks down at Ben. He retracts his hand and rests his forearm on his knee as he gazes at the prisoner, who still groans incomprehensibly. He sighs heavily.

"We'll find Rose and the children," Finn replies. "She would have gone back to the flat."

"I'll meet you there after I finish here," Rey tells him. He gives a quick, solemn nod and turns to leave. Ben stands and follows him without looking at Rey.

"Ben!" She calls out after him. He stops and turns halfway towards her. She takes a couple of steps towards him.

His eyes are intense with thought, but she doesn't dare try to read his mind. Just sensing his emotions is enough to amplify the uneasy feeling in her stomach tenfold. He's deeply disturbed by what he just experienced here… and very angry.

"What did you see when you tried to read him? Anything?" She struggles to look him in the eye as she asks the question.

He stares at her for a moment before giving one small shake of the head. "Nothing. It's as if his mind is locked."

Rey gives a small nod in response. He turns to walk to Finn, who's waiting a few paces ahead. She almost projects into his mind, _I love you_ , but she stops herself. Instead, she watches him disappear with Finn around the curve of the Pantheon.

Coronet security forces are all around her now. She sees an officer approaching to speak with her regarding the disabled attacker at her feet.

The next few hours are a blur. With the chaos of the attack, it was difficult to contact Senator Garr to give authorization for the prisoner's transfer. And Coronet security needed to debrief her. Not to mention Leia's allies in the Senate spent the evening desperately trying to speak with Rey. This attack could not have come at a worse time for them. Leia's committee, charged with protecting the galaxy from misuse of the Force, is set to deliver their plan on the Senate floor in three days. Leia was supposed to be the one to present this plan. Now the responsibility falls to Rey. And after today's attack, it's going to be a _very_ hard sell.

But Rey tries not to think about this. She just focuses on wrapping up as quickly as she can so she can return to Ben and the girls.

Later that night, she steps off a cruiser and nods goodbye to the security officer who speeds away to join the stream of traffic above. The double door entrance to the building whirs open as Rey steps through. She heads towards the elevator, a sense of dread deepening in her belly with each step.

He's been waiting for this— a confirmation that she made the wrong choice that day in the volcano. That's not what this is, but she knows that's how he'll perceive it. They've been avoiding this fight for three years, but they can't dance around it anymore. It's time to confront the uncomfortable truth… to say the things that have been left unspoken.

As the elevator ascends, she can't help but hope that Finn and Rose are already asleep. Surely the kids are at this hour.

The elevator door opens and she walks out, following the angular curve of the hallway. When she arrives to the door of the flat, she enters the security code and it slides open. She walks in and is relieved to see that the apartment is mostly dark. That means everyone is in bed, or getting there soon.

She walks into the living room ahead and looks around. Empty. The kitchen too. All is quiet.

She senses him… He's in the room just ahead.

She glances down the hallway to left to see if any bedroom doors are open. It's dark and all the doors are closed.

Rey sighs, bringing her shoulders back and down. He knows she's here. The longer she waits, the more he'll suspect she's avoiding him.

She walks over to open the door to the study. As she enters, she sees him through the window standing at the edge of the deck. He's completely still, gazing out at the urban buzz, shoulders squared and hands clasped lightly behind his back.

She opens the glass door and steps out onto the deck behind him. He doesn't turn around.

The air is cool. A light breeze tickles her skin. The city is alight in the darkness, all manner of vehicles whizzing by in the distance.

She stands, watching the city with him for a few moments before stepping to the right and taking a seat in a nearby chair. She scoots back and leans her body forward, resting her elbows on her knees with her hands clasped. She looks down, waiting for him to speak.

Silence.

More silence.

Rey sits back in the chair, folding her arms. She holds in a sigh of exasperation. Then, she feels him enter her mind and search her thoughts. She doesn't try to stop him. She simply concentrates on certain thoughts. Her evening. The prisoner. The transfer authorization fiasco. The senators desperately pestering her. Nothing she wouldn't want him to know.

He pushes deeper.

She pushes back as she leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees again and staring intently at him.

"You know, if you have a question, you could just ask me," she says sardonically.

His head juts slightly towards her, his body unmoving. "I thought you were able to detect Force-sensitives in your vicinity."

"I am," she answers flatly.

"Then what happened _today_?" He turns his head to glare at her briefly.

Her shoulders slump. "I don't know."

"You should have sensed the attackers well before they arrived, no?"

Several seconds pass… Silence.

"Not all of them were Force-sensitive," she finally says.

Now he turns to face her fully, leaning back on the deck and crossing his arms. He looks pensive.

"How many were?"

"I'm not sure. I was a bit distracted at the time. If I had to guess… five of the nine that were there when I arrived," she answers.

"That's strange." He purses his lips. "Though I believe it. They weren't very well trained. But they had the element of surprise..." He looks back down as his voice trails off. His jaw twitches as he thinks.

"What caused you to leave just before the attack?" He asks abruptly.

Rey tenses. She takes a deep breath. It's time.

"Another Force-sensitive," she says guardedly.

"Who?" His eyebrows furrow as he asks.

"I… I don't know exactly." She breaks eye contact. "He…" She stops, taking some time to collect her thoughts. She sits back in the chair, crossing her legs and bringing a thumb to her lip. Her eyes are intense, staring off into the space ahead.

"You know as well as I do that some are stronger with the Force than others," she begins, bringing her hand down and sitting up. "I've met many new Force-sensitives over the past three years. Most of them haven't a clue what's awakened inside them. They don't know what it is and they've no idea how to begin using it. But… there are a few others… a _very_ few, less than a handful, who seem to know how to use the Force instinctively. And… they've demonstrated they can become quite powerful in a short amount of time. In fact—"

"How many," He interrupts in a flat tone. "Exactly."

"There's one at each of the three schools," Rey replies. "And there's him…"

"The one who drew you away today?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Yes." She answers.

"You know this for sure… even though you haven't met him?" He narrows his eyes.

"I haven't met him. But I know it was him who called me away today. At least, I do now." She shakes her head and looks down. Ben cocks his head back, looking up into the sky for a moment.

"You're more powerful in the Force than anyone I've ever known," he starts slowly. "And yet this man, this novice, was able to get into your head and deceive you." He looks at her accusingly. "Do you not find that terrifying?"

" _Of course_ I do," Rey answers emphatically.

"Then why haven't you found this man yet?" He asks pointedly.

She lets out a long exhale. "Because I can't find him. I've tried."

Ben scoffs turning away. She senses his rising alarm.

" _You can't find him_?" he repeats, punctuating each word. "You, the one who can detect Force-sensitives on other planets?"

"I've dreamed about him," she confesses. "That's how I found out where he lived. Gan Moradir. I went there to find him. I could feel him calling to me… through his fear. His pain. His anger. But he sensed I was coming and ran. He ran and I wasn't able to follow."

"Did he cloak himself?" Ben asks.

"Maybe," Rey shakes her head slowly. "I'm not entirely sure. He's incredibly gifted at mind manipulation. I suspect he's behind what happened to our prisoner today."

"What do you mean?" Ben's tone darkens.

"I'm not _certain_ it was him. But based on some things he's done before— "

"Like what?"

Rey takes a breath. "Like program ideas into people's minds, ideas very much against their own self-interest. Create memories that never happened. And he can erase memories…" Her voice trails off. "He's erased entire identities before."

Ben's eyes widen in disbelief as he abruptly steps forward directly in front of her, arms dropping by his sides.

" _When_?" He demands forcefully, towering over her.

Rey hesitates and grips the arms of the chair. His eyes are boring into hers. She wants to look away so badly… but she holds her gaze. She feels him slip into her mind and read her like a book.

She jumps a little as Ben swings around in fury, Force-slamming a table across the deck crashing into a couple of chairs before it clatters against the wall on the opposite side. He strides to the edge of the deck, running a hand through his hair before leaning into the rail with his palms, hanging his head between his arms. He's seething. After a few seconds, he snaps up and around to face her.

"Let me get this straight," he begins in a low, menacing tone, like thunder at the beginning of a storm. "There's an insanely powerful, sadistic, _anonymous_ Force-sensitive, a man you can't find but he can find you, who can deceive you, who it appears can interfere with your ability to detect Force-sensitives, who is aiding and abetting a group of Force-sensitive, lightsaber wielding murderers dressed _exactly_ as the Knights of Ren, bent on destroying the New Republic Senate before it's even managed to restore _a semblance of order across the galaxy_!" Rey flinches as he shouts this last part down at her.

He pivots back and shakes his head incredulously. He begins pacing back and forth on the deck.

"This isn't the first time they've attacked. I just saw that in your mind. How many times?" She feels his fury growing as he paces.

"Including today? Four times," she answers honestly, "without casualties until now."

He scoffs and brings a hand to his eyes, dragging it down his face.

" _And you didn't think this little development was worth mentioning to me_?" He hisses, boiling over with rage.

"You made it very clear to me that you didn't want to hear anything about Force use in the galaxy after what we did together on Mustafar." She retorts angrily.

"What _you_ did," he corrects her.

At that, she gets up from her chair and charges towards him. He stops and glares down at her as she halts right under him, eyes trained intensely on his.

" _We did_ ," she insists. "Or have you forgotten? Allow me to remind you. I asked for your _consent_ before what I did that day. I didn't have to do that but I did."

"I had no idea what I was agreeing to," he growls at her.

"And yet you said yes anyways," She steps even closer to him without breaking her gaze. "Because in that moment you had _faith_ in me. Why can't you have faith in me now?"

"Now that there's a Force-sensitive lunatic resurrecting my legacy, using my image to wreak terror across the galaxy? Excuse me if I have a hard time believing in your cause." He spits out the last sentence.

Rey closes her eyes and hangs her shoulders. He turns away from her and walks to lean against the rail again. She crosses her arms and retakes her seat.

They think in silence for a minute.

"You should have told me about this," he says finally. He's not yelling anymore but his voice is full of indignation.

She sighs. "Ben, you wanted to avoid the consequences of Mustafar so badly, you hid yourself away on an abandoned planet in the middle of nowhere for two and half years. You wanted to know as little as possible about it, so I didn't tell you."

"That's a _lie_ ," he says vehemently, turning to face her. "At best, a half truth. You didn't tell me because you're afraid of what it means. It means that I was right— "

" _No, it doesn't_ ," she cuts him off forcefully. "This is one small group of people in a whole galaxy of new Force-users, Ben," she says in exasperation. "You have no idea what's been going on after Mustafar. You have no idea what we've discovered, what incredible new ways we've learned to use the Force. It's going to change millions of lives for the better. But you don't want to hear about any of that. No, instead you're only interested in hearing things that confirm what you already believe. And now that you have, you're using it to make a summary judgement about what we did together without seeking a shred of additional information."

"I don't _need_ any additional information," he growls at her. "That's what you don't understand, Rey. One small group lead by one incredibly powerful Force-sensitive… that's all it takes to bring this entire galaxy to its knees. Everything you've built will be destroyed. Everything you've achieved will be overshadowed by darkness."

"You don't know that," she says emphatically.

" _Yes, I do_." He raises his voice again, beating a fist to his chest as he takes a step towards her. "I've lived it, Rey. I've caused it. And now I'm living to see it happen again." He takes a sharp inhale as he breaks his gaze, turning away from her. She feels him churning with anguish and regret. He looks out into nothing, eyes swimming with memories. He clenches his jaw.

"Rey, I need you to understand something." His voice deepens. "Today was a waking nightmare for me… my past come back to haunt me, but not in a dream. It was real. The Knights reborn… the screaming, the fear, the death, the pain…" He trails off. "For a decade, I brought nothing but destruction to this galaxy. I went to Mustafar to right that wrong, to end the possibility that anyone could use the Force to do what I did ever again." He closes his eyes and hangs his head. "I failed."

 _Because of you._

He leaves the final words unspoken yet Rey hears them all the same. They hit her like a punch in the gut. She tries to catch a breath as she sits up straight, hands resting lightly on her lap as she stares off into space. She wants to say something… anything… but she's speechless.

The silence between them hangs thick in the air as they both wrestle with their emotions… and each other's. She feels his despair, his fear of failure running deep like tunnel that never ends. It blends excruciatingly with her own, the cold fear that she may never be able to persuade him to see the Force in any other way than he does right now.

Finally, Ben strides to the door of the study and stops just before it. He stands still for a moment, looking down.

"This New Age," he says in a low voice. "It's exactly as I said it would be. Chaos."

He opens the door and walks through, closing it firmly behind him.

Rey doesn't move. She stares blankly ahead, frozen solid. She feels exhausted, overwhelmed… She tries to concentrate on her breathing, even breaths in and out.

Suddenly, she gets up and walks to the other end of the deck, setting the table and chairs upright. She walks back past her seat to an ivory white lounge. She leans over to pick up a blanket folded neatly in a rectangular bin next to it. She sinks down onto the sofa and extends her legs across it, turning in and wrapping the blanket around her. She squeezes her eyes shut as she brings it up to her chin.

She holds her breath for a second before letting it out. She tries to focus on the Force inside her, desperately searching the certainty that what happened today is part of the plan, just one, necessary stop in the much longer journey in store for her. But try as she might, she feels disconnected, confused… like the lost and lonely girl she used to be on Jakku.

A tear escapes and rolls down her cheek. It's joined by another. Then another. Then another. She begins to cry softly.

For the first night in three years, Rey sleeps alone.


	15. Chapter 14: The Uncomfortable Truth

Chapter 3: The Uncomfortable Truth

" _You're lying_!"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

"No, seriously, I'm not." The corner of Jian's lips turn up slightly as he shakes his head, a few locks of brown hair falling over his eyes. He brings a palm to his heart. "I'm telling you the honest truth."

Irenie's head jerks back as she eyes the boy in front of her suspiciously. They're both sitting cross-legged on a white, carpeted floor. She doesn't break her gaze as she sits up straight and tosses her dark, shoulder-length hair back from her face.

Soya's laying on her belly not far away, watching them both with wide, curious eyes. Sunlight streams in from a wide window behind her, the city of Coruscant alive with activity just outside.

"You think that just because you're older than us, we'll believe anything you say, and _you're wrong_ ," she cocks her head as she emphasizes the last words.

"I believe you," Soya chimes in suddenly. The younger girl swings her legs around to sit up and scoots over towards her sister, who shoots her a look of disgust.

Jian's chin juts up with a self-satisfied smile, clearly pleased to have earned a convert.

"Do it again," Irenie shakes her head with annoyance while crossing her arms. " _Go on_." She raises her eyebrows and nods her head towards him.

Jian takes a deep breath and sits up, bringing his shoulders back and down. He closes his eyes and continues to breathe deeply. Each hand rests lightly on a knee on either side. His tanned face looks serene, almost as if he were sleeping.

Soya's chin rests on her knee, arms wrapped around her shin, leaning forward with eyes intently trained on Jian. Irenie watches him as well, but also frequently looks around the room expectantly.

For a few seconds, all is silent and still.

Then, suddenly, several objects around the room lift up into the air, floating gently a few feet above the ground—a doll, some other toys scattered about, a blanket, a small table, and two chairs.

Both Irenie and Soya get up and start waving their hands under and over the objects, feeling for strings or anything else that could be holding the them up. Jian still sits calmly on the floor with his eyes closed. As the girls manically search for any evidence of trickery, a few more objects lift from the ground—the bed, the dresser drawer, the couch. Irenie continues examining the room but Soya stops, looking around with her mouth gaping.

Slowly and deliberately, the objects descend to settle back on the floor. Jian opens his eyes. He turns his head up towards Soya. She looks over at him with a huge grin.

"WOW," she says with wonder. "And you can do all of this through the Force?"

"There is no Force," Irenie declares before Jian can answer. "I've figured it out. It has to be magnets somehow. This room is rigged."

Jian sighs, exasperated. "I got here two days ago, just like you. This isn't even where I live. Why would I go through the trouble to rig a room so I can trick two girls I just met? It doesn't make any sense."

"It has to be the Force," Soya says at a near whisper.

" _There is no Force_ ," Irenie repeats at a near shout.

Jian shakes his head, looking down. "Yes, _there is_." He looks over at Irenie, who's pulling the couch out from the wall to search behind it. "And honestly, it's weird you two don't know about it considering who your dad is."

Irenie snaps up from behind the couch to look at Jian. "Who? Ben? He's not our dad."

"Yes, he is!" Soya insists, plopping down on the floor and scooting in towards Jian. "What do you mean?" she asks, sidling next to him.

"Uh… only that Ben is one of the most powerful Force-sensitive beings in this whole galaxy." Jian states matter-of-factly.

" _Seriously_?" Soya's eyes get even wider. Irenie looks on doubtfully as she pushes the couch back into place.

"Seriously," Jian confirms.

"Then why haven't we ever seen him do anything like you just did?" Irenie probes, walking over to sit on the bed.

"I don't know," Jian shrugs his shoulders. "But it's true. Just ask him some time."

"You're such a liar," she says, crossing her arms and scooting back. Jian sighs and hangs his head.

" _I_ believe you," Soya declares confidently. Jian looks over at her with a sly smile.

"Do you want to feel it?" he asks her, leaning towards her a little bit. "Do you want to feel the Force?" Soya nods her head excitedly.

"Go get that doll and sit down here in front of me." Soya shoots up to do as he commands. Irenie lays back on the bed, pretending to ignore them as she looks up at the ceiling.

"Ok," Jian starts as Soya sits down in front of him. "Put the doll on the floor between us. Perfect. Now scoot back a bit. Alright good. This next part is really important. If you don't do what I say, it won't work, understand?" Soya nods solemnly in response.

"Close your eyes," he directs her. "Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Focus on what it feels like to bring air into your lungs then let it all out." Soya starts to take long, exaggerated breaths in and out.

"Um… ok. Maybe breathe a little more naturally than that?" Soya's breaths begin to even out a bit. "That's right," Jian says. "Really natural breathing just like that."

For a few seconds, Soya sits on the floor, shoulders slumped, eyes closed, face turned slightly up to the ceiling, breathing gently. Then Jian brings both of his palms up in front of him, facing her.

Still sitting back on the bed, Irenie glances at the two out of the corner of her eye.

"Breathe," Jian commands. "Keep breathing." Finally, he closes his own eyes, palms still up and only a few inches away from Soya's body. They sit just like this for a full minute.

"Now," Jian says as he opens his eyes and brings his hands down. "You should feel a little different, like there's something in your breath that wasn't there before. Your breath should feel… kinda fuller. Do you feel it?"

"Yes. I feel tingly." Soya responds.

"Good!" Jian exclaims. "Now focus on that new feeling in your breath. It's full of life—that's what the Force is. It's the thing that binds all life together. It's all around you in this room right now. It's in the air, in your breath, flowing through your body. Do you feel it?"

"Yes." Soya says more softly. It's almost as if she's in a trance.

"Now," Jian starts again, "in your mind, I want you to picture the doll on the floor in front of you. Think about every detail you can—what it looks like, how heavy it is. Do you see it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Hold that picture in your mind. Very lightly. No need to be intense about it. It's just one little thing between you and me. The more important thing is what you feel in your breathing… what do you feel?"

"I feel warm," Soya says dreamily. "And… bigger somehow. I can't explain it."

"That's the Force," Jian tells her. "When you feel it, you feel connected to the energy that holds the galaxy together. It's always there, it's always inside you… it's just that now you can really feel it. Focus on that feeling."

Jian waits for a few seconds, watching Soya intently.

"Now stretch out your right hand towards me." Slowly, Soya extends her arm, hand hovering just above the doll on the floor. "I want you to imagine the doll floating up through the air directly into your hand." Jian curls a knee into his chest, his gaze locked on Soya. Against her better judgement, Irenie sits up on the bed and looks down at her sister with curiosity.

They both watch her silently.

Then, Irenie lets out a small gasp as she sees the doll begin to lift from the floor. She shoots an accusing look over at Jian. He can't contain a smile as he brings both of his hands up and shakes his head as he mouths "it's not me." Irenie leans forward on the bed as she looks back at her sister. The doll is about halfway between the floor and her hand. It's making its way upwards slowly… Irenie leans forward more, so much more that she's nearly falling off the bed. Her eyes are fixed on the doll… it's getting closer to Soya's hand… any second now…

" _What's going on in here_?"

The doll drops to the floor as Ben's deep voice cuts through the silence. Startled, the children all jump. Irenie loses her balance and falls to the floor. She scrambles to her knees and looks over at Soya and Jian. They're both staring wordlessly up at Ben. She follows their gaze.

Ben's large frame blocks the doorway. His eyes narrow with suspicion as the children continue to stare, frozen in silence.

Finally, he steps into the room and speaks. "Rose is almost ready to leave. Go see what you can do to help her." He gives a short, curt nod in the direction of the living room. Immediately, the three get up and shuffle quietly towards the door.

" _Not you_." The words land ominously as he points to Jian. Both girls look back at the boy for a second before they pick up their pace, walking swiftly out of the room. Once they exit, Ben turns around slowly, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall.

"Tell me. What were you doing in here," he commands, dark eyes fixed on the boy cowering a few feet in front of him. Jian gulps. He fights the impulse to look away.

"I was…" he croaks to start. He takes another gulp. "I was telling Irenie about the Force, and she didn't believe me, so I tried to show her. Then she still didn't believe me, but Soya did. So, I asked her if she wanted to feel the Force, and she said yes. So then—"

"What were you doing with the doll?" Ben interrupts him.

"Well…" Now Jian breaks eye contact. He shifts his feet nervously. "You see… I have this ability. Um… I can kinda, uh, enhance a person's connection to the Force—"

Jian stops when Ben abruptly steps towards him, uncrossing his arms. "Really?" he demands with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. "You can do this with anyone?"

Jian shrugs. "So far, yeah. If someone isn't Force-sensitive, I can make them Force-sensitive. If someone is Force-sensitive, I can make the connection even stronger…" the boy notices Ben's eyes darken. "But it's all temporary," he adds hastily. "At least, so far it is. It's probably already worn off on Soya." He takes a deep breath and looks up at Ben tentatively. He's not looking at the boy anymore but staring intently downward, processing. After a few seconds, he purses his lips and looks back up at Jian.

"How long… what's the longest amount of time this _enhancement_ has lasted when you've done it in the past."

Jian looks up at the ceiling for a moment. "Uhhhh… the last time I did it to my dad, it lasted a whole month." Ben's eyes widen in surprise. He looks off into space again, lost in thought.

Jian looks around the room uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry," he says finally. "I should have asked your permission before I did that to Soya. I just figured, you know, considering who you are that you wouldn't mind."

"Who I am?" Ben looks at him, raising an eyebrow. "And what exactly did you tell the girls about who I am?" The menacing undertones in Ben's voice makes Jian's insides squirm.

"Just that you're really powerful in the Force." Jian mumbles his response, eyes downcast.

"And that's all?" Ben probes.

"Yes, _I swear_." Jian says earnestly as he looks up at Ben. Ben exhales in relief. Then he twitches his jaw.

"Tell the girls what you will about the Force… but do not use your abilities on them. And _do not_ tell them anything else about me. Do you understand?"

Jian shakes his head rapidly in agreement. "Yes, sir." Ben gives a nod of permission for Jian to leave. The boy practically breaks into a run. He can't get out of there fast enough.

Ben lingers in the empty room for a minute, looking down at the doll on the floor. Then he turns slowly and heads down the hall.

When he emerges into the living room, he sees Soya and Irenie wrangling several large bags with Rose near the front door. "Honey, can you grab that one next to the couch?" she asks Jian, looking up briefly. The boy trots over to do as he's told. When Soya sees that Ben has entered the room, she drops what she's doing and runs over to him. He crouches down in front of her with concerned eyes. She looks nearly on the verge of tears.

"Am I in trouble?" she whispers.

"Not at all," he assures her with warm voice, reaching out to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. She lets out a great exhale and flings herself into his arms. He embraces her.

"Is Jian in trouble?" she whispers in his ear.

"No," he whispers back. She pulls away and smiles. "Good. Because I like him," she says.

Ben cocks his head. "He's alright."

Soya turns a heel and rejoins the group, now ready to leave. Ben takes a step towards Rose, who is loaded with at least five bags. "Let me take those," he says, arm extending towards her.

" _No_ ," she says emphatically as she looks up at him. "You've done enough. You need an afternoon off. Please. I'll handle this." She presses her back against the panel next to the door and it opens. "Alright. One, two, three, let's go!" she declares to the children. They begin to file into the hall, noisily making their way to the elevator.

"We're going to the springs, right?" Ben hears Soya ask at a distance.

"After we take these to the orphanage," he hears Rose respond right before the door whirs shut.

Ben stands in silence, ear trained on the fading sounds of the crew. He waits several minutes… longer than he needs to. Just to be sure.

Then he immediately presses a panel to exit the rented flat, striding swiftly down the hall. As he waits for the elevator, he notes the time.

The senate meeting started ten minutes ago. But he'll still make it in time for Rey's committee hearing. Not that she invited him. He hasn't seen her since their fight three days ago. She's been working furiously with his mother's populist allies to get ready for this hearing, so much so that she hasn't come home at night. Or at least that's what she told Finn and Rose.

The elevator door opens and he steps through.

A cruiser is waiting for him. He'll need to cloak himself so she won't sense him coming. He'll need to manipulate his way in—they won't let a stranger into the Senate chambers.

The wild commotion of the city jerks him out of his thoughts as the elevator door opens straight into the busy street. He strides out and looks to his left. He sees the Rodian's cruiser just ahead. He walks towards it. As he gets nearer, the driver, lounged back in his seat with his feet propped on the dashboard, sits up and turns his head towards him. His slick, reptilian eyes flick shut and back open. His antennae wiggle a bit as he slurps in a breath.

"Payment," he asks in a hollow, nasally voice, sliding an open palm towards Ben. He blinks.

"Your payment is my not telling anyone about what I saw here last night," Ben replies coldly. The Rodian blinks again. Then he makes a deep guttural sound that Ben doesn't quite know how to interpret before he turns to face forward. Ben rounds the cruiser and takes a seat next to him.

"Senate headquarters," he commands flatly. The junky cruiser jerks forward and jets up to join the speeding stream of traffic above.

This hearing is the talk of the town after the attack on his mother's funeral. Everyone is waiting with bated breath for the committee's master plan to keep the galaxy safe from abuse of the Force. In truth, so is he… He wants to know exactly what she plans to do to clean up this mess. And he's ravenous to learn more about these "New Knights of Ren," as people are calling them. He's learned all he can through public records, but there's a limit to their knowledge. This Senate hearing will almost certainly reveal information the public isn't privy to. For example, he hasn't encountered a shred of information about Rey's mysterious Force-sensitive—the one who can erase minds and manipulate others to his will. He is _very_ keen to know more about this man.

The cruiser dives out of the stream of traffic and slows as it nears a large dome resting on a short, thick stem. A line of droids guarding the building twist their heads towards them as the Rodian stops nearby. Ben exits the vehicle wordlessly. He hears another unintelligible sound from the driver before he speeds away. The droids turn their bodies to face him as he approaches. They stand at the ready to impede his entry.

Suddenly, they all jerk back in confusion. They look around, look at each other… the man is gone.

Invisible and silent, Ben continues to walk between the droids and into the building. He hasn't used the Force like this in some time… and yet he's not at all surprised by how easily it comes back to him.

He continues unseen through the building. There are several levels to the Senate chambers. He'll be looking for a spot in the uppermost level. He slips by several droids, robed politicians, and Senate guard, heading straight for the left-wing elevator. He sighs. This building hasn't changed one bit since he was a boy. He remembers long, boring days spent wandering its halls as his mother whittled away hours in meetings. The memories suddenly wash over him and he feels a twist of regret in his gut… the feeling has been a frequent visitor since he first felt his mother's passing. But he doesn't have time to linger on these things now.

He enters the elevator and it ascends swiftly. He exits into a narrow, circular hall lined with several archways, each leading into a section of the Senate chambers. He slowly walks close to each one, following the curve of the hall, sensing for the presence of life on the other side.

Suddenly, he stops abruptly in front of an archway. It's empty. He can feel it. He waves his hand in front of a sensor to the right of the door. It whirs open and he steps through.

He stays back in the shadows, several paces away from the round deck hovering ahead. He's still cloaked but not invisible. He doesn't need to be. The entire amphitheater is focused on the floating disk in the center of the room. A finely dressed Bith man is standing at the edge, addressing the senators and their cohorts all lining the wide expanse of the dome. Behind him, Ben sees several robed figures as well as Rey and Finn. She's not dressed in her normal uniform of threadbare pants and a tunic. Instead, she's wearing a sleek grey suit with her long hair braided tightly behind her back. She's staring intently ahead but not at anything in particular. He feels how nervous she is.

How could she not be? Surely she senses the restless, angry tension simmering throughout the dome. There are some here crouching silently, ready to tear her apart.

The Bith finishes his remarks and retakes his seat. Rey takes a deep breath and stands as she exhales. She looks down at Finn. He gives her a nod of encouragement.

She steps forward on the circular round deck floating in the center of the room. Her nervousness is quickly escalating to pure terror. Ben can't stop his heart from dropping.

Rey's head snaps up in his direction.

She knows he's here. The bond… he couldn't stop himself from feeling her emotions. He let his guard down. There's no point in trying to cloak his presence now. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He focuses on his breathing, guiding his mind onto a meditative state. For the first time since their fight, he reaches inside himself and allows the emotion to overtake him—the one that calls to her.

 _Breathe, Rey. Breathe._

Slowly, he feels her terror subside. He opens his eyes in time to see her take another step forward.

"Honored Senators of the New Republic," she begins in a clear, confident voice. "I am not a politician. Everyone here knows that I am not the one who should be delivering this report today. We have suffered too many losses in a short period." Rey looks down, pausing to take a breath.

"I am not a politician, but I am a leader. I am a leader of a growing community, a community that I believe will lead this galaxy into a New Age, one that will resolve some of our most daunting challenges. The desperate need for resources and habitable living spaces. The cyclical nature of suffering—the trauma incurred in cold-hearted hands, trauma that is all too often replicated for others, passed on like a contagious disease." She stops and lets a moment of silence pass.

"But I know this New Age does not come without negative consequence, as we've all seen in the past year. I am here today to guarantee you that I will rip this menace out by the root—the Interloper. This man who can manipulate minds, violate one's will, and shape one's perception of reality to his purpose. The Knights who attacked and killed our beloved comrades are not the true problem. They are putty in his hands. But he is not the only gifted mind manipulator in this galaxy. In the past three years, I've established three new schools of the Force. The one on Takodana is home to a Force-sensitive whose power is equal to if not greater than that of this Interloper. Her telepathic ability is like nothing this galaxy has ever seen, and every time he emerges from the shadows with his Knights, she gets that much closer to finding him. A team of students from my school and hers are following the lead she recovered after the attack on the funeral. We could have him in custody within a week." She stops and stiffens.

Ben clenches his fists and holds his breath. He should be with this team. The fact that she hasn't told him any of this eats at him, stoking a low burning anger in his belly.

Rey cocks her head slightly and continues. "I know this man's actions have many of you fearing the idea of more Force-users living amongst us. But let me assure you that this man is an exception. I am connected to all Force-sensitives in this galaxy. With the exception of the Interloper and those under his thrall, I can detect the location of any Force-sensitive, anywhere. And so far… I've recruited over 200 into our new schools."

Several gasps and a low rumble sweep across the dome.

"Do any of them ever decline to join a school? What happens to them?" A short, scaled green woman hops up from her chair and steps forward, looking down at Rey from her deck expectantly.

Rey bows her head for a moment. "There are some who decline my invitation. But they _do not_ pose a danger to the galaxy. Contrary to what many of you seem to believe, the vast majority of Force-sensitives can progress little beyond parlor tricks by themselves. They must learn how to use this power inside them, how to explore its limits. In our schools, they are taught to do this within an environment that instills in them respect for life in this galaxy, just as the Jedi instilled in their members for thousands of years—"

"There is no emotion, there is peace," a woman from below interrupts Rey suddenly in a sharp, crisp voice. She stands and walks towards the center of her deck. She is quite a few years older than Rey, with long white hair cascading down her back. Rey looks in her direction.

"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force."

The silence hangs thick in the room as the woman pauses for a few moments.

"This was the mantra reflecting the values of the Jedi code. You see, the Jedi operated in this galaxy for thousands of years under the auspices of the Republic because they lived by a code that governed their behavior. All beings who could access the Force were trained to exercise their power within the confines of this code. This gave the galaxy peace of mind. One code, one unified order, one entity guided by the principles of harmony and serenity. This gave the practice of Force use stability. It allowed the Republic to trust in the Force as a power for good." The woman pauses and takes a step forward. "Tell me, _girl_ —what's your code?" The question slices through the air like a dagger.

Rey takes a deep breath. "The Jedi brought this galaxy peace, knowledge, and so much more in their time. But their time is over. Their principles will inform use of the Force as we move forward, but it will not limit it. Imagine the Force as a spectrum of colors, and imagine the Jedi could only see part of that spectrum. If we were to all operate as the Jedi did, then we would be trapped in only one way to understand the Force. As a result, we would give up the opportunity to discover new ways the Force can be used to enhance the quality of life on this galaxy—"

" _Enhance_?" A short, long-lipped Durosian senator abruptly interrupts. "Is that what you would call the terrors this Interloper has wreaked upon us these past few months? _An enhancement_?"

" _That is one man_ ," Rey responds emphatically. "One man out of hundreds of Force-sensitives we've found who are learning to use their power for the benefit of the galaxy."

"And what exactly are these benefits?" A small, silver-haired Lorridian woman inquires.

Rey looks down and presses on the panel below her. A giant holographic image appears in the center of the Dome. It's a desert landscape with wide, rolling hills. The holograph cycles through several other images just like it.

"This is my home planet of Jakku," she tells the senators. "I can tell you from experience that life on a planet like this one is harsh. Precious resources are scare, water chief among them. The lack of it restricts everyone living on the planet to a meager existence. The fight for what little there is breeds violence, sectarianism, and distrust. _But not anymore_." She presses down on the panel again. The images change to large bodies of water surrounded by vegetation with a desert distantly visible in the background.

"There are now five new, significant sources of water on Jakku. Thanks to an incredibly powerful Narquois man, we've discovered the Force can be used to terraform, to manipulate and create new environments, natural resources, even change the atmosphere of a planet. He is now leading a school devoted to teaching others this ability. I doubt any of his students will ever match his raw skill, but they will ensure his legacy survives into the future. They will apply what they learn to address one of this galaxies' most persistent sources of suffering and inequality—uneven access to habitable living space and natural resources. What if a planet had the means to create what it so desperately needs? Planets that have long been considered ill candidates for life can be re-formed. Think of the dire consequences of overcrowding, in this city chief of all. What if there were more planets with ideal, even attractive living conditions? The population of this galaxy could spread out and the quality of life for everyone could improve."

Rey is practically breathless with excitement. Ben doesn't need to sense her emotions to hear the passion in her voice. She truly believes in this future she is painting… a future that, he must admit, solves a serious problem.

"Young one," the aged, white-haired woman addresses Rey again. "I admire your passion for improving life in this galaxy. Now that Senator Organa is gone, we need leaders like you more than ever. But nothing you have said today eases my fears that one day soon a powerful, unstoppable Force-user will rise up and cut us down _for a third time_. And you have not addressed my previously stated concern. How can we trust that Force-users will exercise their abilities to the benefit of the galaxy? What code of conduct guides you? And when someone breaks that code, whose responsibility is it to deal with that? The Jedi always dealt with infractions of Force use within their own organization. The Senate was never burdened with such matters."

Rey nods her head deeply towards the senator in assent. "You are right to ask these questions. We have drafted plans for a tribunal that will address abuses of the Force with a legal code of ethics that reflects that of the New Republic. I've adjusted the mission of my own school to monitor for such abuses throughout the galaxy—"

"And what is the mission of your school?" A senator interrupts.

Rey juts her chin up confidently. "The mission of my school is to prevent Force abuse from happening in the first place." She pauses and looks down, then raises her face in Ben's direction for a moment. She redirects to face the senator who addressed her. "Did you know that Anakin Skywalker was almost rejected when he was brought to the Jedi Order to be trained? It wasn't just because he was too old. It was because he had been a slave, and the Jedi believed that slavery engendered emotions that could make him vulnerable to dark use of his power. And they were partially right. My experiences during the slave rebellion showed me that slaves are subject to the worst kinds of horrors sentient beings are capable of inflicting on one another. Living through this can indeed plant a seed of darkness… but if we catch it before it grows, then we can turn it into something else. The students in my school are much like Anakin. They're all former slaves or survivors of terrible violence. But unlike Anakin, my students never feel alone. They are surrounded by others who have suffered similar experiences. And with the help of our sister school in Takodana, they learn to use their past to fuel their mission in the future—to go out and live in the parts of this galaxy most vulnerable to the very horrors they experienced. They will police these areas to root out slavery, sources of violence, and gross injustice. Due to recent events, they will also be responsible for confronting abusers of Force power and bringing them to justice."

"That's quite a mission." An elderly, wizened man in simple grey robes stands to Rey's right. "The truth is, I think it's wonderful. I've spent most of my life researching how to reduce the worst of suffering on this planet, and I've found that the best way to do that is to change communities from the inside. It seems your students would be in a particularly good position not simply to protect vulnerable places but transform them for the better. It also seems that perhaps this goal has been unexpectedly sidelined by the appearance of these New Knights and the need to police them. Now your mission is muddled, unfocused. I don't think you ever expected something like the Knights. I think you were under the impression that you could catch all Darth Vaders and Kylo Rens _before_ they could grow to become menaces to the galaxy. But the truth is that you will never be able to snuff out every bad seed. There will always be some that grow. And when they do, they will destroy everything you've worked so hard to build."

At the sound of his last words, Rey buries her face in her palm.

Another senator to Rey's left stands. She presses her tan, frog-like hands together as she steps forward.

"When the Knights attacked a bank, I was concerned but I was not in terror," she begins in a high-pitched voice. "But when they attacked the weapons depot… when over thirty guards and technicians not only had no memory of what happened but had _false_ memories… no recollection of actually aiding the thugs who came to rob them… That was when I realized that we are heading down the same path without recourse. Armed with lightsabers now. Dressed like the evil we just banished. Attacking a senator's home in Chandrilla. Erasing his entire identity. Attacking and killing two senators at the funeral of another. These New Knights, whether they are being manipulated or acting out of their own free will, clearly have a goal. And that goal is to destroy the order of the New Republic."

At that, a host of senators from all around the dome spring to their feet and all begin speaking at once, some at a reasonable volume, others at an ear-splitting screech. There are voices in different languages, voices that are low and imposing, voices that are quick and robotic. The wide expanse of the Senate chambers continues to fill with noise as more and more senators rise to their feet. The Supreme Chancellor, a slim woman with a classic Cerean features—a cone like head and a stern face— desperately tries to regain control of the room to no avail.

Rey is still standing on the floating deck in the center of the room, hand covering her hear on one side of her head, eyes closed into a tight squint. Finn is standing not far from her, yelling at a few senators across the way.

Ben turns slowly and exists the chambers. He remembers this from his childhood as well. When the Senate floor descends into this madness, there is no coming back from it. The hearing is over.

He walks swiftly down the curve of the hall back to the elevator. The door opens immediately and he enters. He clasps his hands lightly in front of him and looks down as he feels himself descend. Before the door opens, he shrouds himself in invisibility once more. He exits the Senate building unnoticed and strides ahead without paying much attention to his surroundings.

He'll walk back to the flat. He needs the time to think.

His mind is racing; his body is churning with mixed emotions. It felt good to hear his own fears reflected in the voices of the senators. And when Rey was confronted with his words from the other night practically verbatim? A rush of affirmation surged through him. She needed to hear that from someone other than him. She needed to be confronted with the uncomfortable truth she's been trying to avoid for three years.

Suddenly, his chest tightens. The feeling turns into a dull ache that descends into his gut. It lingers there uneasily as he walks down the busy streets of the city. He's visible now, head bowed and brooding with his hands clasped behind his back. He can't rid himself of this gnawing, plaguing feeling…

He sighs heavily. Rey's not the only one who's been avoiding uncomfortable truths. Since the attack at the funeral, he's spent every spare second researching the New Knights, scouring for any information that might be relevant to this "Interloper". As he learned more, he grew increasingly angry, more at himself than at Rey. Angry for not stopping her that day in the volcano.

But… he must own up to the truth. After hearing what he did today, he doesn't feel quite the same way. The terraforming… One thing he learned as a part of the First Order is that natural resources are scarce, and those who control them control the galaxy. But what if they weren't so scarce? What if there were less fear of running out, less incentive to attack others for their resources? This new ability the Narquois man has discovered solves more problems than even Rey realizes.

Ben runs a hand through his hair, resting his shoulders back as he slows his pace a bit.

Rey was right. He hasn't listened to her. He made a summary judgement after only seeing a part of the picture.

What makes him most ashamed is that she's clearly listened to him. The whole idea of her school is based on something her told her when they first fought about the Force right before Mustafar. Unbeknownst to him, she had thought about what he said, reflected on it over time, and incorporated it into her management of the New Age. Not that he thinks the plan for her school will somehow eliminate the possibility of Force abuse… but it is a good idea, one focused on prevention and learning from mistakes in the past.

He sighs again, picking up his pace once more as he weaves through the crowded streets.

After what he heard today, he's still not convinced the galaxy is safe in this New Age, safe from a repeat of the past. But he is convinced it's worthwhile to search for a way that it could be.

Rey listened to him. It's time that he listen to her.

She deserves to have a partner who listens to her. She deserves someone who supports her desire to improve the conditions for life across this galaxy.

Hearing her speak today about her schools… seeing and _feeling_ her boundless compassion for others, her fervent belief that the Force can be used to give them hope for a better life… he was struck by an important difference between them, something he needs to remind himself of more often, if only so he can understand her perspective.

His past experience with the Force is the polar opposite of Rey's.

For him, the Force was the conduit for a predator to enter his mind unwillingly as a child. It was the means through which this predator made him vulnerable to his worst impulses—his anger, his resentment. It alienated him from his parents. It was the reason his uncle tried to kill him in his sleep. The Force drew him to Snoke, a tormentor who twisted his mind and abilities to his purpose. Together, they wreaked unimaginable amounts of pain across the galaxy. And like Snoke, chanelling Dark power left him with scars that will never fully heal… scars deep in the contours of his soul.

 _Of course_ he would grow to think of the Force as a corruption.

But Rey's experience is different. He felt that in her soul when they switched bodies. It was subtle, indiscernible the first couple of times. But then Rey made a comment about what she felt in his body… and he knew what she meant without her saying it directly. She felt the corrosion in his soul, the decaying effects of the dark side. He's lived with it so long that it's simply become part of him, just a chronic ache deep in his body. But for Rey, it was a very new and unpleasant sensation.

Being in her body was the opposite. Her heightened connection to the Force after Mustafar imbued her spirit with a kind of warmth, a perpetual glow that has the subtle effect of making one always feel like part of something larger.

This is what the Force means to her. Before it awakened inside her, she lived an interminably lonely existence in the middle of nowhere. She had no purpose beyond survival. Nothing to live for besides a future of the same day after day after day… then suddenly the Force pulled her away from this seemingly endless despair. It brought people into her life… friends… it embroiled her in a conflict in which she had an important role to play. It gave her a sense of purpose, a goal to work towards… find out why the Force awakened in her, develop her abilities, learn more, seek order and balance for the galaxy. The Force lead her to other people like her… Jian. People who were abandoned and forgotten. The Force gave her a destiny, a mission to use its power to bring hope to the galaxy, the hope that things will be better.

 _Of course_ she would grow to think of the Force as a gift.

Now that he considers this pivotal difference between them, he can't help but feel that perhaps they would make excellent complements as leaders.

He grunts and shakes his head, both annoyed and amused with himself. She's getting to him… He doesn't know whether to resist it or give into it.

He walks for hours along the city streets. It's dark by the time he returns to the flat. He's not at all surprised to sense Rey's presence as he ascends in the elevator. He takes a deep breath in and exhales as he exits.

When he enters the flat, he sees Finn to the right in the kitchen, preparing food. He looks over as Ben approaches.

"Are you hungry?" He asks.

Ben shakes his head wordlessly. Finn shrugs his shoulders. "Suit yourself, man. After that hearing, I'm _starving_. Rey's here by the way. She's back in your room."

"I know," Ben responds.

"Oh, yeah. Right." Finn's head jerks back in recognition as he continues with his meal. Rose emerges from the hall and smiles when she sees Ben.

"Welcome back," she greets as she walks forward, stopping just in front of him. "Rey's here. I just tucked the kids in. They're still awake if you want to say goodnight."

"Thanks," he nods appreciatively at her and begins to walk towards the hall.

"Just a minute!" Rose suddenly calls from behind him. She rushes over as he turns. She starts to speak then stops herself. She twists her head back towards Finn.

"Honey, I know you're really into practicing your Force hearing right now, but can you not do that for just a couple of minutes?"

Finn's head snaps up with a gasp of offense. He puts a hand to his heart. "I would never!" he declares in a slightly mocking tone.

Rose rolls her eyes. "Finn, you've been creepily eavesdropping on people for weeks. Just cool it for a minute."

Finn looks up, pressing his palms together and giving her a solemn look. "I'm an angel."

"Sure you are," she says, shaking her head and dragging Ben into the hall by his arm. Once they're out of Finn's sight, she turns to face him. She pulls something out of her pocket and opens her palm in front of him. She's holding a large clump of dark hair. Ben sighs and hangs his head.

"The cleaning droid found it in the girls' room this afternoon." She looks up at him with concerned eyes. "I've noticed Irenie's hair is quite thin. How long as she been doing this?"

He drags a palm over his eyes. "Since I've known her. She has nightmares all the time. She pulls her hair out. Sometimes she completely breaks down over _nothing_." He tightens his jaw and looks off in the distance. "I just don't know."

Rose's eyes deepen with compassion. "Talk to Rey," she advises him. "But go see the girls first." She nods her head towards their room. "They've been asking about you." Ben gives one curt nod and continues down the hall past Rose. He stops just in front of the door. He hears rustling inside. He presses the panel and it whirs open. There's a dim light glowing from two corners of the ceiling. Both girls peak their heads out from under the covers. He walks towards right side of the bed first and kneels down next to Irenie. She looks out at him with a smile in her eyes, blanket pulled tightly under her chin. He brings a hand out to smooth her hair back.

"How are you?" he asks, eyes brimming with concern.

"I'm good," she chirps back in response. Ben twitches his jaw. Then he sighs. He leans over to kiss her forehead and stands back up. "Goodnight," he tells her, hand on her head.

"Goodnight," she says cheerily.

She seems fine… He doesn't know what to think. He turns and makes his way over to the left side of the bed, kneeling down next to Soya. She's wiggling rhythmically under her blankets, looking up at him with a silly smile. He can't help but chuckle a little. She's adorable.

"How was swimming?" he asks her.

"The springs are so cool! They're way better than the ocean," she exclaims.

"Do they have waves?" he asks.

She thinks about this for a minute. "No…" she says scrunching her face.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun," he kisses her forehead and stands. "Goodnight," he says, lightly pinching her cheek and winking at her before turning towards the door.

"Ben!" He hears Irenie call behind him. He turns back.

"Is the Force real?"

He pauses for a few seconds. "Yes," he replies finally. Irenie looks thoughtful for a moment. "Why haven't we ever seen you use it?" she asks.

"Because," he says firmly, "I don't use the Force to show off. I only use it when I need to."

Irenie nods her head, accepting this answer. "Goodnight," she says as she rolls over. He turns to leave the room again.

"Ben!" He hears Soya call behind him. He turns back once more.

"Is it ok if I call you dad?"

He's caught off guard by the question, but the shock quickly transforms into warmth. He walks over and kneels next to her. He rests a hand on her head. "I'd like that very much," he says with a small smile. She smiles back. He kisses her forehead again and stands to exit.

"Goodnight," he says in a definitive tone.

"Goodnight, dad!" Soya trills in a singsong voice.

"Night!" Irenie says, muffled a bit by blankets. He presses a panel and the door whirs shut behind him. He continues down the hall to the room at the very end. He stops for a moment just in front of it. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

Then he presses the panel and walks in. The door closes automatically behind him.

Rey is standing several paces away, arms crossed, back to him, and staring out the small window. Her posture isn't quite as straight as it normally is. She's in threadbare pants and a tunic now but her hair still hangs in a tight braid behind her.

She doesn't turn to face him. She simply continues staring out the window.

She's crushed. She feels lost. Overwhelmed. Alone.

He stands silently behind her, watching. He doesn't attempt to move towards her. He waits.

After several minutes, Rey finally speaks. Her voice breaks a little. She's clearly been crying.

"Go ahead." Her head hangs down, shoulders slumped. He doesn't react. He simply continues to stand unmoving behind her.

"Go ahead and say it." Her head snaps back up. He sees her tense, like she's bracing for a blow. She stands like this for a minute.

"Say it!" she practically yells as she whips around to face him. Her face is red and her eyes are puffy. Her cheeks are wet with tears.

" _Just say it already_!" She flings her arms out on either side, charging forward and stopping abruptly just in front of him. She looks wildly up into his eyes with a mixture of frustration and dread.

" _You're right!_ Everything is a mess! I have no idea what to do. I have fewer and fewer allies every day those damn Knights are out there, and no matter _what I do_ , I can't seem to find them. That mission I mentioned today? The team hunting them down? They've already failed. We've lost their trail." She lets out an anguished groan as she turns towards the window again with her face buried in her hands.

She staggers, struggling to hold herself up. She turns angrily towards him again. "Just say it! _Please._ Just get it over with." The last sentence comes out as a sob. Fat tears roll down her cheeks as she hugs herself, hunching over and staring at the ground.

He begins to walk slowly towards her. She brings a palm to her forehead, shaking with sobs. She can't bring herself to look up at him.

He stands, looking down at her for a moment. Then he reaches out and brings her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She melts into him, as if she anticipated it. Her tears flow freely, body wracking with sobs. He cradles the back of her head as she buries her face in him. He presses his lips against her soft hair and closes his eyes. They stand together like this for a few minutes.

Suddenly he pulls back and in an instant, sweeps her off her feet, bringing her over to the bed in the center of the room. She wraps her arms around his neck as he sits down and scoots back against the headboard. Then he adjusts her body so she is between his legs. He holds her close, her back pressed against his chest, rocking her gently, nuzzling her hair. He begins to breathe deeply and deliberately and she joins him in response, sobs waning and then dying away completely. They sit quietly like this for several minutes, breathing in synchronicity.

This is one of those times when they both feel only one thing—how deeply they love each other. How deeply they need each other. The feeling of wholeness that they only get when they're together like this. They lose themselves in bond, in the oneness it brings them. Time slips away. There is no time. There is only Rey and Ben, breathing slowly in and out like a single being.

No matter what happens… no matter the chasm of difference between them… there is always this. Love. The bond. The ability to lose themselves in it and in one another.

In moments like these, Ben truly does not fear the future. It's not rational, not something he can explain. It's an assurance that defies logic. It just feels like… destiny. Their destiny.

Suddenly, Ben sits up a bit and brings his mouth close to Rey's ear.

"You were right."

The words barely escape his mouth before she lunges forward from his arms, pivoting around to face him on her knees. She sits back on her calves, fully erect and staring earnestly at him with anticipation.

Ben sighs and brings a knee to his chest. He looks directly at her.

"I haven't listened to you," he says in an even tone. "I haven't been fair to you. That changes right now."

She exhales with relief, visibly relaxing.

He leans towards her a little.

"I want you to make your case. I want you to convince me that the risks of this New Age can be managed effectively. If you do…" he pauses for a moment. "I'll stand with you at your next Senate hearing. We'll win over the New Republic senators together."

" _Ben_." She lets out another great exhale as she lunges forward on her knees to embrace him. He lets his knee drop to the side and returns her embrace, albeit awkwardly. She pulls back to rest on her calves again, absolutely glowing. "Thank you," she says with excitement in her eyes.

He nods his head but his gaze darkens. "I want you to start by telling me everything about this Interloper and his New Knights. If we can't stop him, you're on your own."

Rey looks away and nods her head solemnly in agreement. Then her eyes snap back towards him.

"I'll tell you everything. Whatever you want to know. About _him_. The Interloper. Everything that we know he can do. Everything we know he's done. The Knights… your mother's funeral was the first time I've actually seen them. I had no idea that some of them aren't Force-sensitive. It's the strangest thing. It must mean somethi—"

Suddenly, Ben reaches out and presses an index finger to Rey's lips.

" _Tomorrow_." He intones the word deeply and raises his eyebrows. He turns his hand slightly to caress her cheek with the back of his fingers. They gaze at one another for a moment. Then he cocks his head and gives her a knowing look. She blushes and smiles, looking down and quickly back up. His fingers slide down the curve of her jaw. He gently grips her chin with his thumb and index finger, bringing her lips towards his.

They kiss softly, rising slowly and awkwardly to their knees. Rey brings her hands up to frame his face, and then runs them through his hair. He slides a hand behind her waist and slips it under her tunic to feel her warm, bare skin. He grips her and pulls her closer, kissing her more passionately. She responds by letting a hand fall to his left shoulder, squeezing his arm and pulling herself into him.

God, he did miss her…

They lose themselves in warm, wet lips, in hungry, grasping embraces, in sweat and skin and a pleasure too deep to name.

Every time. Every. Single. Time. From the first time before Mustafar to right now. He can try to rationalize it afterwards, to explain it away, chock it up to the passion of the moment… but when it's actually happening, when they become one as they are now, he can't deny it.

Her words echo in his mind… her voice desperate, the heat of the volcano swirling around them.

"What's happening between us…. It's bigger than love. It's bigger than just us."

Being with her like this… it makes him feel like he never really was the Chosen One. Not on his own, at least.

Because he's not complete without her.


	16. Chapter 15: Lost in Memories

Chapter 4: Lost in Memories

"Girls! Quick! Come see this!"

Rey calls out excitedly from the cockpit of the Falcon. She can barely contain a smile as she hears Soya and Irenie clattering loudly through the ship. They race into the room so fast they barely stop themselves from crashing into the control panel. Irenie presses her palms onto it, leaning as far forward as possible to the window. Soya climbs to stand on top of the empty co-pilot's chair so she can see over her sister. Her mouth gapes as she gazes out in wonder.

The wide river winds through rolling mountains, sunlight glittering across its smooth surface. Miles and miles of lush green stretches out endlessly before them, sloping down and then curving high into the sky to form jagged cliffs and soft peaks.

Rey looks over to Soya for a moment. "Hold on." She nods her head towards the command chair. The girl leans back on it, still standing, and brings her arms behind her to grasp it and brace herself.

Rey dips smoothly down into the ravine. A large, crane-like bird flies gracefully just ahead of them. It looks back, then dives down towards the water. It stops just above the surface, expanding its large, white wings out and flying forward, skimming its talons across the blue sheen. They are closer to the sides of the mountains now. They can see the individual trees that together make the appearance of a carpet of green from far away. They are tall and thick with leaves, so thick that it's impossible to see through them to the ground.

"So much green." Irenie practically whispers the words as if in a trance, gaze fixed on the scene before her.

Rey's heart twists with that special kind of joy one gets when experiencing something for the first time again through another's eyes. She remembers that feeling years ago, sitting right were Soya is. After a lifetime wandering through uniformly brown sand dunes, this place seemed like a paradise.

Takodana.

The first planet she saw outside of Jakku. The place where she first felt her calling. The place where she first met Ben.

Coming here always feels a bit like coming home. She'd only spent a few hours here… but those hours changed the course of her life forever.

She continues to navigate her way through the landscape, the girls oohing and aahing next to her. She sees Maz's castle in the distance, still partially under construction after the First Order destroyed it. Suddenly, Rey frowns.

"Where's Ben?" she asks the girls.

"He's with Jian in the lounge," Irenie responds without looking at her.

"Hmm," Rey replies in acknowledgement, a tinge of concern in her voice.

"They're having a _discussion_ ," Soya says, drawing out the last word with emphasis.

"About what?"

"The Force," Soya says absently, crawling off the chair to stand next to her sister.

"Ahh, I see." Rey's eyebrows furrow.

Poor Jian. But he brought this on himself. If he'd only listened to her, Ben would have no idea what he's capable of. She's told him hundreds of times not to use his abilities on people without explaining to them exactly what he's doing and _never_ to do it on a child without a parent's permission. But he gets excited… and impatient. She admires his passion, but he needs to learn restraint. Perhaps some time under an inquisition with Ben will impress upon him the importance of heeding her guidance.

Rey slows for landing, looking for a spot not far from the castle. She sees an opening in the trees near the water. It's small but big enough for the Falcon. She slows even more, stopping to hover above the clearing then gently rest the ship down. Soya looks over at her with a glint in her eye.

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a pilot just like you," she announces before whipping around and running out of the cockpit.

"I thought you were going to be a Force missionary like Jian," Irenie calls after her, following close behind.

"I'm gonna be both!" Rey hears Soya yell at a distance.

Rey smiles to herself for a moment then turns to finish post-landing before getting up and heading to the lounge. When she enters, she doesn't see the girls but hears them bumbling around nearby. Ben is sitting across from Jian at the table at the side of the room. He's leaning back with his a shin propped across his knee. Jian's slumped over, his right elbow propped on the table, chin resting on his palm. He looks miserable until he catches sight of Rey. Then his expression suddenly changes to a look that seems to cry out "save me!" Rey turns her back to him and opens up a panel on the side of the Falcon, running through a few simple repairs.

"So, let's say you enhance the connection for someone who is already Force-sensitive," Ben is saying. "And that person then uses that enhanced power to terrorize someone—steal, hurt, even murder. Do you think you'd bear responsibility for that?" Rey doesn't look up, and yet she can almost see Ben raising an eyebrow and looking pointedly at Jian.

"Nooo," Jian drags out his answer, clearly both bored and frustrated by the conversation.

" _No?_ " Ben shoots back, the question sounding more like a reprimand.

"Uh… yes?" Jian changes his answer tentatively. Ben sighs.

"If that person would have been otherwise unable to commit that crime, then _yes_ , you would be partially responsible for their actions. In fact, I think a legal argument can be made that you were an accomplice by enabling them. Have you thought about that?"

Rey hears Jian's head drop down on the table. "Not really," he responds, voice muffled.

"Well, that's comforting." Rey can hear the direction of Ben's voice shift towards her, but she doesn't look over at him. She just continues tinkering.

"You cannot grant someone power without considering the consequences of your actions," Ben continues. "You have to ask yourself, what is this person likely to do with this power? Am I willing to accept responsibility for their choices?"

"Sooo…" Jian starts a little hesitantly. "Does that mean you're responsible for Mei-Ren destroying an entire town on Hosnian Prime? You're the one who trained her how to channel the Dark Side."

" _Boy!_ " Ben barks, abruptly sitting up and raising his voice. "What have I told you about staying out of my head _?_ "

"Sorry," Jian mumbles. "It's hard for me to control it."

"Then _learn_." Ben replies dryly. "And to answer your question, _yes_ , that does mean I was partially responsible for what happened that day."

"Yeah, but you never had to answer for it cuz most people think you're dead," Jian states matter-of-factly. Rey feels Ben's anger rise alongside Jian's fear. But before Ben can answer, Soya and Irenie run into the lounge towards him.

"What are you waiting for!?" Soya demands, reaching out to pull Ben's arm. "Let's go!"

"Hold on, honey," Ben puts a hand gently on her shoulder as she bops up and down expectantly next to him. "Jian and I are having a discussion."

Suddenly, Rey stops and turns around. "Maz is waiting for us," she tells Ben. He looks over at her and nods as Soya resumes tugging at his arm.

"Come on!" She leans the weight of her body back, trying to drag him from the chair to no avail.

"But you're not ready," he says with a half-smile as he pulls her upright. She looks back at him blankly with confusion. "We're staying the night remember? You need your things."

"Oh!" Soya exclaims. She turns a heel and runs back out of the room. Irenie follows her. Jian looks at them longingly as they go, then turns back towards Ben.

"Can I go help?" he asks with barely disguised impatience in his voice.

Ben blinks. "Sure." Jian jets out of the lounge so fast he appears to just be a blur.

Rey closes the panel on the Falcon and turns her body towards Ben, leaning back against the ship and crossing her arms. He's already looking over at her with piercing eyes.

 _That boy is dangerous_ , he projects into her mind, planting his other foot on the floor and shifting towards her in his seat.

 _That boy has a good heart_ , she projects back at him.

Ben's eyes narrow. "He tells me he's taught you this Force enhancement _skill_. And you'll be teaching it to others in your school."

"That's right," she responds nonchalantly.

He flicks his head slightly to the right with a patronizing look. " _Rey…_ " he begins with a voice full of worry.

"Don't start," she cuts him off. "The reality is much less extreme than whatever apocalyptic scenario you're picturing. First of all, no one has come even close to doing what Jian can do. Secondly, the idea isn't for the students to use it on each other but on those who've never felt the Force at all. Most people don't even believe in the Force anymore, Ben. It's time to change that. It's time to remind them there are no isolated beings in this galaxy, only living things bound together by this energy all around us. This is part of what my students are preparing to do."

His eyes darken with thought.

"Ben," she says softly as she walks towards him. He looks up at her warily, still seated, as she settles between his knees and brings a hand to smooth his hair back from his forehead. "I'll tell you all about my school when we see it on Cantonica. But you said we needed to focus on finding the Interloper before all else. That's why we're here. One thing at a time." She looks down at him and raises an eyebrow, her hand curled behind his neck. He twitches his jaw, then casts his eyes down briefly. He nods in assent, reaching for her hips and gently pulling her to him. She buries her lips in his hair as they wrap their arms around each other, embracing for a lingering moment. She pulls away and he instinctively resists, letting her go slowly.

"What's the status of the prisoner transport?" Ben asks as she turns away.

"Finn's about twenty minutes out," Rey answers. She hears the children's chatter grow louder as they enter the room.

"She's hilarious," Jian's telling Irenie. "You're gonna love her."

"Mazzz," Soya exaggerates the z as she speaks the name. She drops a bag to the floor. Rey reaches over and presses a panel that opens the Falcon. Immediately, she swings around with alarm as the kids charge down the descending ramp, leaping off before it lands on the damp earth below and racing into the thick forest outside.

"Hey!" Rey shouts, running after them. "Wait!" They ignore her calls, charging forward with laughter.

"Girls!" Ben bellows from behind. Irenie and Soya stop dead in their tracks. Ben strides slowly down the ramp, two small bags in hand. "You forgot something." They both run back towards him to retrieve their things. Jian lags behind them, his own bag hanging lightly from his shoulder.

Rey looks back at Ben to confirm he has their luggage, then clicks the remote to close the ship. She waits for the crew to catch up before turning to make her way with them towards the castle.

It's not far, but their progress is slow because the girls keep stopping to explore their surroundings—chasing a fuzzy animal they've never seen before, trying to climb a tree, using branches to dig up loose patches of earth.

Rey's been back here many times, but never with Ben. Walking through these woods with him like this feels surreal. It really wasn't that long ago…

The memory washes over her. She'd run deep into the forest after her vision in Maz's basement. BB-8 had followed her. Then she heard the explosions. She told BB-8 to run. She'd never fired a blaster before, but she scared off two Stormtroopers nonetheless. She raced along the uneven ground, branches whipping across her face. She knew someone would be following her. She stopped and hid behind the thick trunk of a tree, blaster pointed and ready…

Then she heard it. An electric hum thrashing through the woods. She had no idea what it was but she knew it was coming for her. She ran in spurts, stopping every so often to point her blaster in the direction of noise then turning to run again. Her heart was racing. She was terrified. But she soon learned that she didn't really know terror. Not yet.

He emerged from behind a large boulder wielding a weapon she'd never seen before. He was a literal nightmare… she'd seen him in her vision not twenty minutes earlier—soaked and surrounded by six others just like him. "This can't be real," she'd told herself as he advanced on her, swatting away blaster fire like it was a game. Then before she knew it, she was frozen before him. His voice was distorted and eerily calm. "The girl I've heard so much about…"

She feels Ben's fingers wrap around hers. She looks up and he looks down at her with a glint in his eyes.

Of course he's thinking about it too.

Jian, striding along just in front of them, using a large branch as a walking stick, abruptly turns his head back towards Rey.

"Isn't this where you two first met?" He asks the question like he knows the answer.

Rey gives him a wry look in reply, and he averts his eyes sheepishly, turning his head back forward. She _has got_ to teach him how to better control his telepathy…

Both Irenie and Soya have stopped dead a few paces ahead of them. They're both looking up at Ben, eyes curious and expectant.

"You met Rey here?" Soya asks Ben to confirm as she tilts her head towards her ear.

He sighs and looks briefly over at Rey before he answers. "Yes," he says succinctly.

"Why were you here? What were you doing?" Irenie probes, situating herself between Ben and Rey as they walk forward

Ben clicks his tongue, thinking for a moment. "I was… on a mission."

"What kind of mission?" Soya asks, trotting alongside him, looking up at him for an answer.

He inhales deeply. "I needed something that Rey had."

"Like what?" Irenie's eyebrows furrow.

"A map."

"Did she give it to you?" Soya follows up.

"Uh… no." He says hesitantly.

Now both girls look confused.

"Why?" Irenie asks. "Didn't she want to help you?"

"I didn't ask very nicely," Ben responds.

"Oooooh…." Irenie says this like she understands, but she's clearly still perplexed. "So…" she continues, "you didn't like each other at first?"

Ben purses his lips. "You could say that."

"Did you like her but she didn't like you?" Soya tries to clarify.

Ben hesitates.

 _You could help out here, you know_ , he projects into Rey's mind.

 _Why ruin the fun?_ She replies playfully, fighting a losing battle to suppress a smile.

He shakes his head, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

"You could say that," he says again.

Irenie shoots Ben a wry look. "You're being evasive," she tells him.

"Wow… evasive? Someone's been doing very well on her language modules," Rey remarks.

Irenie juts her chin up, looking pleased with herself.

"So, what's the answer?" Soya's not giving up. "Did you like her or not?"

Ben sighs heavily. He's not getting out of this one.

"Let's just say I didn't exactly treat her like most of my prisoners." Ben immediately jerks his head back, realizing that he revealed too much.

" _PRISONER_?" The girls ask in unison, faces both turned up incredulously towards him.

" _You took her prisoner?_ " Irenie sounds indignant. "No wonder she slashed your face."

"Yeah, no wonder," Soya mirrors. "But maybe the hand was too far." Suddenly, the girl looks over at Rey with solemn eyes. "Dad told me that he thinks you cutting off his hand was _overkill_."

Rey halts and jerks her head up towards Ben. Soya immediately slaps her hand over her mouth. Ben shoots Soya a glare that says "you've got to be kidding me," but she's already squealing and racing far ahead with her sister as if she can somehow outrun the fact the she just said something she shouldn't have. Jian runs after them, giggling.

" _You're still on that?_ " Rey demands. "I've told you I'm sorry a thousand times."

Ben rolls his eyes, shaking his head. "Let it go, honey," he tells her.

"But I'm not the one who can't let things go!" She insists.

"Let it go," he says again, kissing her forehead and sweeping an arm around her back to guide her forward.

They emerge from the forest into a clearing. Maz's castle towers high above them, the muffled sounds of chatter and music emanating from within.

Irenie and Jian are play fighting with their walking sticks by the water. Soya's splashing around a few feet in.

Rey looks over at them and then at Ben. "I should go in first," she tells him as she opens her pouch and reaches inside. She hands him her commlink, and he takes it.

"Finn will be here any minute now with prisoner. When he comes, we need to move quickly." He nods and she turns towards the large door.

Rey reaches a hand out to open it but hesitates a moment. Maz can sense that she's here… and that she's not alone. Rey takes a deep breath and enters.

She's greeted with sensory overload. The tavern is packed with all manner of creatures, talking, drinking, shouting, shoving, jerking, and dancing to the frenetic but steady beat of a drum chorus lead by a quartet of unkempt Botori men hunched over their instruments. Rey begins sidling her way through the raucous crowd. Suddenly, she stops and sidesteps a hulking, long-haired creature stumbling into her from behind, but in doing so, accidentally kicks a short, red Orlak who curses at her after he spills his drink. She looks apologetically down at him.

In the midst of the noise and the heat of so many bodies around her, Rey closes her eyes. A moment later, she steps forward, eyes still closed. She weaves through the crowd, stepping over a creature sprawled on the ground, leaning away to narrowly miss a pair of fighting Barabels. She follows the Force as it guides her right to Maz. When she opens her eyes, the small woman is looking up at her through large goggles, hands on her hips.

"I can sense you brought that boy with you," she says with a deadpan expression.

"Yes, Jian's here," Rey confirms.

"Not _that one_." Maz enunciates the last words.

"It's been just a little while since you've seen him, Maz," Rey reminds her circumspect friend. "He's not a boy anymore."

Maz grunts.

She turns away for a moment to yell something indistinguishable at a nearby employee, then turns back. "Go outside. I'll meet you there in a minute." She swiftly darts away and disappears behind a nearby door.

Before Rey begins to make her way back through the crowd, she senses Finn draw nearer. _Right on time_ , she thinks.

When she emerges through the castle door, she sees the junky, borrowed transport docked to the left next to the water. Finn is standing near Ben and the girls, smiling down at Jian as the boy chatters away excitedly. He looks up to greet Rey as she approaches.

"Did it give you any trouble?" Rey asks, gesturing towards the ship.

Finn rolls his eyes in response. "I get not using an official prison transport to avoid drawing any unwanted attention, but that thing? Really? We couldn't do any better than that?"

"Not on short notice," Rey shrugs, shaking her head. She steps towards him and lowers her voice. "How is he?"

"Same." He sighs looking down. "Honestly… I'd be shocked if Aradia can get anything out of him."

Rey purses her lips and looks up to the sky. "I don't know, Finn. You haven't seen her do what I have." Suddenly, she turns a heel to look out over the lake behind her. She sees two medium sized boats in the distance, both steadily making their way through the water with Maz at the helm of one and a short, furry creature at the helm of the other. They gently pull up next to narrow shore.

"We're taking you in the back way," Maz announces to Rey. "My friend here is going to your quarters for the evening," she nods her head towards her furry employee. If Rey didn't know any better, she'd say the creature was an Ewok… the resemblance is uncanny, anyway. "I'll be taking our _guest_ and whoever else to Aradia." Rey looks down at Jian.

"Go with Irenie and Soya to our quarters," she tells him.

"But I want to go with the prisoner!" he protests. "How am I ever supposed to learn anything if I'm not allowed to go see important stuff like this?"

"This isn't about not allowing you to go," Rey responds, shaking her head. "I know you can handle seeing this. But I don't want Irenie and Soya alone in a strange place. They trust you." She reaches a hand out and rests it on the boy's shoulder. "And I trust you to protect them."

He nods, reluctantly but solemnly. He turns towards the girls. "Hey Irenie! Ever been on a boat?" he yells out.

"Yeah," Irenie responds, unimpressed.

"Wanna go on another one?" Jian asks without skipping a beat. The girl shrugs and turns towards her younger sister. They both look up at Ben.

"Go on," he tells them, nodding over at Jian. They both pick up their bags from the ground and walk towards him. The Ewok-like creature helps the children onto the boat. They settle in and the girls look over at the adults, a little uncertainty in their eyes.

"We'll be right behind you soon," Ben assures them. Soya can't take her wide eyes off him as the boat begins to smoothly move across the water towards the back of the castle.

"Take care of 'em, Jian!" Finn yells out as they leave. Then he turns to walk to the junky transport, pressing a remote for the landing ramp to descend.

Finn disappears up the ramp into the ship. He emerges a minute later, guiding a hovering stretcher with the prisoner from the attack on Leia's funeral secured on top. Maz adjusts the boat so it's parallel to the shore. Ben helps Finn lift the stretcher higher and guide it towards Rey, who's awaiting inside the boat with outstretched arms. She eases it over the rail and down to settle in the center of the small deck. Ben and Finn begin to board.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Maz holds out a hand towards them and they freeze. "Who's going to move that piece of junk away from my castle?" she demands, pointing towards the ship. Finn sighs and looks over at Rey.

"See you in a bit." He says to her before turning to jog towards the transport.

"When you're done, come in at the front!" Maz calls after him. "Tell that Kordan idiot working the bar to take you to the vault. And if he tries to give you any grief, tell him I'm keeping his Poncy box for another month!"

The boat glides quietly and swiftly away from the shore. Maz navigates at the helm. She stares directly forward for a minute but soon turns her head back slightly to glance at the prisoner on the deck behind her.

He's remarkably unchanged since Rey first saw him. The only difference is that his eyes are now closed most of the time. But his head still swings rhythmically from side to side, the same staccato grunts, unintelligible but predictable. It's like he's trying to speak, and saying the same thing over and over again without ever being heard.

Maz's gaze travels upwards and settles briefly on Ben before she turns to face ahead once more.

"I see you still have that unsightly mop on your head," she calls back without moving. "I told Han a thousand times to take a pair of shears to it, but he always insisted that you should make your own choices. Of course, we all know how that turned out." Now she turns her head back to glare at him for a moment. Ben returns her gaze, resting against the railing of the boat, unblinking and unfazed.

The crew soon disembarks, prisoner in tow, and enters the castle through a secret stone door opened by a skinny human woman Maz calls Raja.

After Rey checks on the prisoner, she stands to take stock of her surroundings. They're in a dark, curved corridor with junk stacked along one side, a large room to the right full of crates and all manner of odds and ends. She hears stone scraping the ground behind her. Raja is closing the opening as Maz steps around the prisoner and begins to charge ahead.

"Come on!" she calls after them. "Aradia has been waiting for you."

Rey and Ben settle on either end of the stretcher, Rey in front. She turns to follow Maz, who leads them through a remote part of the castle, kicking aside stray pieces of junk as she goes. Rey follows swiftly, Ben guiding the stretcher forward behind her. Both of them churn with rising anticipation.

Rey is hopeful that Aradia will be able to recover something from this man. Ben's emotions are a bit different... she senses a disquiet muddling his expectancy. Something's eating at him… he's still deeply suspicious of everything about this New Age, despite his assurances to give Rey a fair hearing. Some biases cannot be overcome.

But that doesn't make convincing him impossible. Just harder. Their encounter after the hearing renewed her faith in him, in her quiet confidence that he will come around eventually. It's already started to happen. She can sense it. He's starting to see… his destiny is bigger than he thought. Destruction _will not_ be his only legacy.

Learning about the terraforming school was a turning point for him. Rey hopes this encounter with Aradia and her school will have a similar effect. If she's able to get through this man's mysterious affliction… Rey's heart flutters. They could end this. They could end this before the next hearing scheduled two weeks from now. They can show the Senate that the advantages this New Age brings to the galaxy far outweigh its dangers. And even those can be managed. Now that Ben has promised to stand with her, to help her find a way to do this, she feels more confident than ever. She WILL convince him. He'll see.

"Is this where the school is?" Ben interrupts her thoughts, his voice tinged with confusion.

"No, you idiot," Maz replies as she continues charging ahead. "The school is miles away. You're here and not there because my castle is the most secure structure on this planet. I hope Finn's managed to get the prisoner here unnoticed but… you can never be too careful."

She turns a corner sharply and begins climbing a steep staircase. Rey stops to grip the stretcher behind her then continues up the stairs to follow. When she emerges at the top, she sees Aradia standing beside a large, wooden door opened into a room at the end of a straight hall. Her hands are clasped gently in front of her, thin, silver robes billowing around her ankles. She slowly turns and walks away from them as they get nearer. Maz turns to the left once she enters the room. Rey and Ben walk straight ahead, the stretcher gliding lightly between them. As they lower it gently down to the ground, Maz walks towards the door again.

"I have my own business to attend to. I'll leave you to yours," she announces as she exits into the hallway without so much as looking back.

Rey remains crouching next to the prisoner, but Ben stands and regards the woman to his right with curiosity. She's a young Ferroan with pale blue skin and long wisps of white hair that seem to glitter faintly in the light. Her features are delicate. She has high cheekbones and distinctly curved lips with almond shaped eyes that slant upwards. Her eyes are pure white. No irises.

She's blind. She's been blind since birth. For most of her years, she lived in isolation, barely leaving her home. But then Rey released the power of the artifacts… and everything changed. After a lifetime of blindness, Aradia began to see for the very first time. But it was a very different kind of sight. Many different kinds. She could sense the world around her, even in parts of her planet that she'd never been. She began to hear people. It took her a while to realize she was hearing thoughts and not voices. Her ability to enter others' minds grew and developed into something much more. That's when Rey found her. That's when she realized that what was happening to her was not a curse but a blessing.

Aradia walks forward towards the prisoner and stops just above his head. Staring directly forward, she bends her knees and lowers with a straight back. She settles gracefully on the floor, tucking her calves under her. She reaches out and strokes the man's forehead with her left hand. She lets it glide over his smooth, dark skin until she cups the back of his bald head with her palm. Her right hand extends and stretches out just an inch above his face. She coos softly as her ear drops slightly towards her shoulder. Her eyes are still open and unmoving—glassy as if they were synthetic instead of organic.

Ben crouches where he stands at the prisoner's feet, eyes transfixed on the blue-skinned woman. She seems to be in a trance, her hand hovering over the prisoner's face. Suddenly, her body jerks forward and she cries out.

" _No_ …" the words escape her lips as a whisper. "He is truly an evil man." She closes her eyes and a single tear escapes, rolling down her cheek. Aradia's body folds over and she rests her forehead on the prisoner's, white hair falling down around both of their faces. She cries softly like this for a minute as Rey and Ben watch awkwardly.

Finally, Rey reaches out, still crouching on the other side of the prisoner, and gently rests a hand on Aradia's head. The woman rises with tears streaming down her face.

"He's trapped in his most painful memory," she says in a broken voice. "He lives it again and again and again, the emotions acute as though he were feeling them for the very first time." A sob escapes her before she finishes the sentence. "It's so horrible…" she whispers. "The screaming… everyone he loves is dying and he's helpless to stop it."

"How did this happen?" Rey asks intently.

Aradia breathes sharply. "Oh, it's him. You were right." She answers in a darker tone. "The things he thinks to do with his abilities… things I could do. But why would anyone ever want to be so cruel?" She looks blankly down, stunned.

"What happened exactly?" Rey leans in towards Aradia.

She purses her lips and looks towards Rey. "It's as if he transformed the man's memory into a mine. Who knows how long it's been there? It lay dormant until triggered. I wouldn't be surprised if he's done it to all his knights."

Rey's eyes widen in disbelief. "So this will happen if we capture any of the others?"

"Upon interrogation, yes," Aradia replies. "It's a safeguard. The lengths this man is willing to go to in order keep himself hidden…" Rey shakes her head and looks away for a moment, lost in thought. Then, she whips back to face Aradia.

"Can you undo it?"

The woman clicks her tongue in response, uncertain. "I could've easily undone it before it was triggered. But now…? Now that it's spreading through his brain like a thick web, sticking to everything." She bows her head. "It is very possible that in trying to undo this thing, I will turn the rest of his mind into mush."

Rey's shoulders drop. "Do no harm…" she says quietly to herself. This is the first lesson Aradia teaches all of the students at her school. Rey takes a deep breath. "I'm not going to ask you to compromise your values," she tells her. Rey leans forward, her voice becoming more intense. "You know how much I admire you, your principles. But this Interloper… he's growing more and more out of control—"

"Oh, I know it," Aradia interrupts. "He can hide his location from me, but I still sense his mind, just as I know you can. You feel how unstable his is becoming, how broken he is. If only your school had existed years ago… it would have been exactly what he needed. But it's too late for that now."

Rey sighs, a familiar longing burning inside her. She thinks about this often. It was pain that first drew her to the Interloper. He was in so much pain, and still is. Even now, she can't fight the instinct to feel compassion for him, despite everything he's done. If only she had approached him more carefully when she first sensed him… Maybe he wouldn't have had a chance to run from her. Maybe things would be different now.

"I will try to free this man from the Interloper's web." Aradia interrupts Rey's thoughts. "Mostly because keeping him in his current state is a cruelty that is even worse than whatever my come from trying to undo it. But Rey… this will take time." She says this gently but firmly. She knows exactly how impatient Rey is for a lead on the Interloper. "I will have to do this in stages. I must proceed _very_ carefully for there to be any hope of keeping his mind intact."

"How long?" Rey asks immediately.

Aradia thinks for a moment. "A month, at least." At this, both Rey and Ben let out a gasp of disappointment. Aradia's head turns sharply towards Ben, who's still crouched near the prisoner's feet.

"Ben Solo," she addresses him flatly. "I know you. I've sensed your pain as well. You're in a living nightmare, just like this man. A past you thought you buried for good turns out to be very much alive. But it is not what you think… as you will soon find out." Upon hearing this, Ben eyes her curiously along with Rey.

"What have you seen?" Rey asks eagerly.

Like Rey, Aradia experiences time differently but to a _much_ greater degree, in a way that even Rey doesn't quite understand. While Rey always sees right now and a few seconds ahead, Aradia seems to see right now, as well as weeks into the past and the future all at once. And, because of her incredibly advanced telepathy, she can even see the future from different perspectives than her own. But Aradia is a very cautious woman. She is extremely wary of revealing anything she's seen. She believes in the Force and in a natural order. She is intent not to interfere with events as the Force intends them to play out.

"I've seen enough to know that you don't need me to find the Interloper," she answers, stroking the forehead of the prisoner as he continues to groan. "He will find you. Now, leave me to my work with this man. Let me try to give him some peace…" She stretches her right hand over his face again.

Ben stands abruptly and looks down at the white-haired Ferroan. "If you know something that could help us find the Interloper, it would be irresponsible of you not to share it," He tells her coldly.

He waits for a response. He doesn't receive one. Aradia does not make even the slightest acknowledgement that she heard him. Clearly frustrated, he steps around the prisoner and walks forward towards Aradia. Rey senses what he's up to…

 _Ben, don't_ , she projects. He ignores her as he attempts to enter Aradia's mind.

Suddenly he stumbles back, nearly tripping over himself as he does.

"You're out of your league, Ben Solo," Aradia says dispassionately. "Go now. You have other business here. Go now to your daughter. Irenie needs you. She needs you to do what is right for her. Clea is with her, waiting for you." Ben's eyes widen in alarm and confusion. His head snaps towards Rey for answers.

"Thank you," Rey says to the woman still preoccupied with prisoner before her. "Please keep me informed." She rises to leave.

"Of course," Aradia answers without moving. Rey exits the room and Ben follows swiftly behind. She feels him churning with a complex palette of emotions— worry, anger and uncertainty.

 _What the hell is she talking about? Who's Clea?_ he projects to Rey as they walk down the straight hall towards the stairs.

"Clea is one of Aradia's students," Rey answers. "And she means that…" She pauses, considering her next words for a moment. "She means that the prisoner is not the only reason we came here," Rey confesses to Ben as he follows her down the steps. She turns to the right and they walk side by side down the hall.

"I'm listening," Ben says when Rey doesn't continue.

She takes a breath, hesitant to start. This is an important conversation. She's been thinking about it, practicing it in her mind, imagining different ways to frame it…

"Aradia's school focuses on telepathy and mind manipulation," she finally begins. "She and her students are working to cultivate many skills, healing mental wounds chief among them."

"Mental wounds?" She feels Ben's worry suddenly eclipsed by curiosity.

"Yes. Like depression. Anxiety. But especially… past trauma. Everyone in my school has come here. And hundreds of others, mostly former slaves. Aradia explains what she can do, and they choose whether or not to let her do it. Most choose to let her."

"So… what? They _erase_ troubling memories?" He probes.

"No," she answers. "They reframe them."

"How?"

Rey thinks for a moment before continuing. "The problem with a traumatic memory is not the memory itself but the emotions it triggers. The emotions are overwhelming, fresh, as though the experience is happening all over again for the very first time. Think of what you've felt when you read Irenie's nightmares… to her, it's not a dream. It's real. The emotions are what make traumatic memories so powerful and so dangerous. Over time, if a person doesn't learn how to manage them…" Rey's voice trails off. They walk in silence for a few moments, Ben lost in thought.

"You know better than anyone how past trauma can stoke the flames of resentment… anger… hatred. How it can draw one down a darker path. But what if the hard edges of a traumatic memory could be softened before that damage is done? This is what Aradia teaches her students to do. They've done it to hundreds Ben, primarily children."

"What is being done to them exactly?" Ben asks.

"Something that's a lot like what happens naturally over time," Rey answers. "We grow older, and the farther we get from a memory, the duller the emotions associated with it become. Essentially, Aradia and her students make it so that when a person remembers something traumatic, the emotions it triggers are muffled. Regardless of when the event happened, the memory of it feels distant, so a person recalls the event more objectively. Quite frankly…" Rey hesitates. "I've thought you might consider having this done to a couple of your memories."

Ben scoffs, clearly dismissive of the idea. Rey halts abruptly and whips around to face him.

"Ben," she begins with a voice full of warning. "If you won't even consider doing something like this yourself, fine. That's your choice. But _do not_ keep Irenie from trying something that could really help her. In a minute, you're about to sit next to her as Clea explains all of this to both of you. Then, she's going to ask Irenie if she would like to consent to Clea reframing one of her memories just to try it out."

"Is it reversible?" Ben interrupts.

" _Yes_ ," Rey responds emphatically. "And, the procedure takes less than five minutes to perform. Clea's done it _many_ times. She is an extremely mature, caring, and highly skilled young woman. And when she asks if Irenie if she's willing to undergo the procedure, you know exactly what Irenie will do. She'll look to you. She trusts you, Ben. She will follow your lead."

Ben sighs as he leans back against the wall, his eyes drifting to the ceiling. He crosses his arms. Rey stays out of his head, allowing him to process everything she's told him.

"This alone won't suffice," he says finally.

"I know," Rey replies softly. "There are other things that we can do, that we will do, regardless of what Irenie says today. But Ben…" Rey looks down, shaking her head. She looks back up. "I've seen this procedure change lives. _Completely_. Children who once couldn't sleep through the night now sleep like babies. A seven-year-old girl who barely spoke a word to anyone now has a dozen friends. I could go on and on… it makes a difference, Ben. Especially for the young ones."

Ben listens, staring up into nothing. He's struggling with himself, struggling to decide what's best for Irenie. Finally, his eyes lock with Rey's. He gives an almost imperceptible nod. Rey lets out an exhale, not realizing she was holding her breathe. She turns to continue their walk down the hall, a warm feeling rising inside her. This could be another turning point. if Irenie says yes, Ben will experience the fruits of the New Age in a very personal way. And if that happens, he'll be all the more convinced that this new galaxy she is trying to build is worth fighting for. Rey tries to contain her excitement. Irenie hasn't said yes yet…

They both slow as they turn the corner and hear bursts of laughter emanating from the door at the end of the hall. When she reaches it, Rey opens the door smiling. The kids are sitting in a circle on the floor with Clea, an ebony-skinned human woman barely out of her teens. She's wearing a loose purple garment and her head is crowned with a thick mane of frizzy curls. They all look up at Rey and Ben as they enter.

"Rey!" Clea exclaims, gracefully rising and walking over to embrace her. "Why don't you bring Jian here more often?" She asks pouting as she pulls away, looking back over at the grinning boy.

"Because he's got a lot of work to do in Cantonica," Rey looks down at him, raising her eyebrows. "He's going to take over the school there when he's old enough, aren't you?"

Jian ducks his head and nods, acknowledging his responsibility. Clea tsks, looking back at Rey. "Then I'll just have to visit you there," she says with a shrug.

"You'd be very welcome," Rey says in a warm tone. She looks towards the children.

"Jian and Soya… will you come with me for a little while?"

They both get up and walk towards the door, Soya stopping by Ben to show him a strange pair of die in her palm. Irenie looks over with furrowed eyebrows, unsure why she's been left out. Ben crouches down to kiss Soya's forehead and nudges her towards Rey. He rises to walk towards Irenie. Before she leaves, Rey looks to Clea who gives her a reassuring nod. Rey nods nervously back. Just as she turns and begins to close the door, Jian races back into the room from the hallway and stops abruptly next to Irenie, who is now standing beside Ben. He looks on suspiciously as Jian whispers something in her ear. She pulls away, looking confused. Jian gives a quick, exasperated sigh, then whispers something else. Irenie still looks confused as he turns to leave the room again.

Jian offers his hand to Soya as Rey closes the door. Together, they begin walking down the hall. Rey churns nervously as they go. _Please say yes, Irenie,_ she thinks to herself.

"Why are we leaving? What's dad doing with Irenie?" Soya's head whips up towards Rey, her dark eyes full of worry.

Rey hesitates, unsure of how to answer.

"They're just having a talk with Clea about her nightmares." Jian replies before she can.

"Oh," Soya responds, still sounding uncertain. "How do _you_ know about her nightmares?" She narrows her eyes at Jian. He flashes her a winning grin.

"Because I know things," he says with an air of mystery.

Rey rolls her eyes, smiling as they round a corner and stop midway down the hall in front of a door. She opens it, walking into the room and standing to the side to let the children pass her.

"What did you whisper Irenie before we left?" Rey cocks her head, addressing Jian as he enters the room. He slows and visibly stiffens, keeping his back to her as he walks towards the window.

"Jian?"

He stops, cautiously turning to face her. He tries to make eye contact but can't quite manage it. She sighs and folds her arms, looking down on the boy shuffling his feet.

" _Jian_."

He finally looks her in the eye, letting out a burst of air. "I just told her… uh… you know, to trust the Force." Rey raises an eyebrow doubtfully. Jian shrugs. Rey takes a step towards him without breaking her gaze.

"What else did you tell her?"

Jian's eyes roll to the ceiling. "Um, well… I think… I recall… I told her to trust Clea. And… to say yes because I want her to be happy."

" _Jian!_ "

"What?!" The boy asks defensively. Soya watches them both with solemn eyes.

"You know better than to influence somebody's decision about something like this. It has to be _Irenie's_ choice."

"It still is!" Jian insists. "She can choose to ignore me, to decide my opinion is stupid. She can still choose to say no."

"Yes, but now she has your voice in her head, interfering with her instincts."

"You think Ben's not gonna do the same thing?" He shoots back accusingly. "Ben _hates_ the Force. You know he'll tell her to say no."

" _No, he won't_." Rey catches herself, realizing she practically yells this. She looks over at Soya sitting cross-legged on the bed, her back erect and her face contorted as if she's about to cry. Rey walks over to sit down gently next to her, placing a hand on her back.

"I want dad," she whispers softly.

"Don't worry, love," Rey rubs her back. "Regardless of Irenie's answer, this won't take long."

"Won't take long for what? What does Jian mean about saying yes?" Soya looks up at Rey curiously. Rey takes a breath, looking briefly away then back at the girl. "Clea is a very talented young woman. If your sister lets her, she can help her have a peaceful night of sleep."

Soya's eyes widen with recognition and she nods. "Oh, ok. Well then I'm glad Jian told her to say yes." She announces this definitively. Rey continues to rub her back, gazing off into nothing.

"I hope so too," she says absently. Jian seats himself in a chair across the room, hugging his knees into his chest. Soya shifts her body on the bed, laying her head on Rey's lap. Rey strokes her hair, closing her eyes and trying to quiet her mind. They sit like this for a few minutes.

"Hey, where's dad?" Jian's voice abruptly breaks the silence.

Rey stiffens when the realization hits her. Finn should have joined them a long time ago. Her mind's been so preoccupied…

"I don't know," she answers honestly. "Stay here with Soya while I look for him." Soya lifts her head to let her rise. Rey walks to the door and exits swiftly into the hall, a twinge of worry rising in her gut. Finn's been as eager as she has for a lead on the Interloper. It's very unusual that he didn't join him when they were with Aradia.

As Rey turns the corner of the hall, she can't help but stop and look towards the room where she left Ben, Irenie, and Clea. The door is still shut. She's not sure, but she guesses it's been about ten minutes since she left them. A smile creeps upon her lips. She turns to head the opposite way towards the cacophony of the tavern.

Irenie must have said yes. They'd be done by now if she hadn't. She feels a surge of warmth inside but quickly banishes the feeling to focus on finding Finn. She charges down the steps, acknowledging Raja as she passes, and stops in front of the large wooden door leading that opens into the bar. She stands to the side, closing her eyes, concentrating to sense Finn's presence.

He's… not in the tavern. He's not even in the castle. He's still outside with the transport. Now Rey really starts to worry. Something's not right…

She opens the wooden door and steps into the bustling tavern, starting to push her way through the crowd towards the entrance of the castle. Once she reaches it, she grabs the handle of the door, but stops before twisting to open it. A strange feeling descends upon Rey… nothing concrete. Just an instinct. But it terrifies her. She feels her heart grow cold and drop into her stomach.

Leia's funeral… the voice that lured her away. She can't explain how she knows, but she senses this is what is happening right now… he's trying to use Finn to lure her away from the castle. Rey gasps and turns abruptly around.

The Knights. They're here.

She closes her eyes and reaches out with her feelings, mapping the environment around her. She senses everything… a wine glass shattering to the floor. A heated argument in the corner of the room. A woman slipping on slick liquid and falling to her back. But she cannot sense them… yet she knows they are here.

Her eyes fly open and she surveys the room, worry quickly escalating to sheer panic. Who here does not belong? Who looks uncomfortable… stiff… Who stands out from the rest? Suddenly, a trio of figures sitting at a table far to the left catch her eye. She begins to make her way over to them. They are covered in loose brown cloaks, hoods pulled over their faces. In a sea of motion and noise, they sit silently and almost completely still. Her heart quickens as she approaches them, weaving through dancing bodies and staggering drunks. She's only a few paces away when one of them looks up in her direction. She freezes. She sees nothing but blackness inside the hood. She stares into it intently, unmoving. She takes a step towards the figure without breaking her gaze.

Suddenly, the figure rises and puts a hand to his belt. His hood draws back as he does, revealing a masked face.

Rey ignites her saber just before he does, lunging forward. The other two figures stand, igniting their lightsabers and casting off their brown cloaks to reveal black-clad forms.

Rey leaps up, somersaulting over the heads of several patrons and landing just in front of the trio of Knights. As the tavern erupts into chaos, patrons drunkenly stampeding towards the castle entrance, Rey jumps onto the table and begins twirling her double-sided saber around her, fending off blows from three attackers.

She Force-slams one of them back into the stampeding crowd and his lightsaber clatters out of his hand. She backflips and lands on the table next to her, then drops to the floor. She expertly maneuvers between the two Knights, easily deflecting their awkward, unpracticed strikes.

The third Knight reclaims his lightsaber and joins his peers. The tavern is starting to clear out, though Rey can see several bodies littering the floor, victims of the stampede. She tucks and rolls to her right, leaping up to kick a nearby table towards her attackers. It crashes right into two of them and they fall back.

She just has to keep them here. She just has to keep them away from the prisoner.

Suddenly, she freezes as if time stops in the midst of battle.

Only three Knights… This is a distraction.

Rey leaps up onto the table to her right then pivots high into the air, somersaulting over her attackers. She lands behind them and bursts towards the door leading to the labyrinthine halls that make up the heart of the castle. The Knights race after her. Just when she reaches it, she turns abruptly to Force-slam all three of them away from her. She twists the knob and runs into the hall and up the stairs.

Aradia… the prisoner… she needs to get to them _now_.

She skids across the floor as she turns to fly down another hall, heading directly towards the staircase that leads to the room where she last saw Aradia. She leaps over several steps as she ascends and sprints down the hall, bursting through the large wooden door. Aradia's head snaps in her direction when she enters. She's seated next to the prisoner almost exactly as she was when Rey left her. Rey looks around the room… they're alone.

She staggers back in confusion. If they aren't here for the prisoner, then why are they here?

In an instant, the answer hits her with a force that makes her bowl over in shock. She feels it the moment he loses consciousness.

It's not the prisoner they're after… it's Ben.

And they just took him.


	17. Chapter 16: The New Knights

Chapter 5: The New Knights

"Look. I did exactly as I was told. It isn't my fault Zax lead me to the wrong place."

A deep voice scoffs. "I understand that. Here's what I don't understand. Once you realized you were in the wrong room, why didn't you turn back to find Solomon?" An accusatory tone cuts through the air.

Ben's head moves slightly as he slowly regains consciousness… He has no idea how long he's been out. Suddenly, he hears what sounds like a metal canister crash across the room.

"You're not listening, you blue-faced ass!" The other voice grows more shrill. "The moment I stepped into that room, Zax took over. You know what it's like when he gets in your head. I was just along for the ride at that point."

The deeper voice sighs, exasperated. "I just don't understand how he could have gotten it wrong. He never gets such things wrong."

" _Well_ …"

"What?" The deeper voice probes.

"Haven't you noticed how edgy he's been? Ever since the funeral. I think this guy really shook him up. In fact, if you ask me, he didn't make a mistake at all. I think he intentionally lead me to this guy and not Solomon."

" _Lies_!" The deeper voice rumbles. "Zax was very clear. Takodana was a rescue mission.

You know he would protect us with his life. You've seen that with your own eyes. He'd never intentionally leave one of us behind."

As the voices continue to argue, Ben remains absolutely still as though he's unconscious. His body is limp. His eyes are closed. But his mind is alert. He feels cold metal against his back. His wrists and ankles are restrained. He's latched to a device similar to those used in First Order interrogation chambers.

He reaches out with his senses. The room is cluttered and disorganized. It's relatively large with a tall ceiling and hard, concrete walls. It smells musty… if he had to guess, he'd say this structure was an abandoned military base of sorts, or maybe a shipping depot.

Suddenly, he hears several others enter the room. There are six of them now. "Who's that?" A female voice asks from the right. "Where's Solomon?"

"We don't have him, Anh." Ben hears footsteps walking towards him. "Vikander got the wrong guy."

"Zax got the wrong guy!" The shrill voice retorts in anger.

"SHUSH!" A second female voice directly in front of him cries out forcefully. The room falls eerily silent. The only thing Ben hears is light shuffling as several more footsteps approach him. He can sense them gesturing to each other. Then hears a chorus of a familiar sound— the clicking of masks.

"This man is awake," a distorted voice announces in a menacing tone.

Ben opens his eyes slowly. A tall robed figure in a mask stands before him. Five other black-clad figures stand in a semi-circle behind her. Their body language belies the impassive blankness of their masks. They shift nervously. They are tense and alert.

The lead figure cocks her head as the tallest one behind her steps forward.

"Who are you?" the taller figure asks.

Ben relaxes against the metal behind him and stares evenly into the black mask addressing him. As he does, he unlocks the restraints at his ankles with the subtle wave of his middle and index fingers.

"If you don't know who I am, then why did you kidnap me?" Ben asks the question like a challenge.

The taller figure answers with a hard slap across his face. Ben spits out a little blood before turning his head back towards the kidnapper.

"I asked you a question." The taller figure takes another step forward, towering over him.

Ben doesn't respond. He just sets his jaw and stares up at the man with cold eyes.

In an instant, thick, gloved fingers wrap around his throat, choking him.

"Who are you?" the figure repeats, clenching tightly around his neck.

Ben still doesn't respond. His face grows red but he doesn't break his gaze.

"We have ways of getting answers." The figure tightens his grip, bearing down on him. He loosens a bit when he sees Ben struggle to say something.

"I'll tell you who I am," Ben spits out. The figure withdraws his hand and takes a step back.

Ben catches his breath, then looks up into the masked face above him.

"I'm one of you," he says finally. The tall figure tilts his head, confused by this answer. Ben unlocks the restraints at his wrists with another subtle wave of his hand.

"The only difference is…" Ben lowers his voice, leaning forward.

"I'm the original."

He rears back and gives the towering figure a swift, hard kick in the gut. As the tall man bowls over, Ben Force-calls a lightsaber from the hilt of a Knight to his right. He ignites it, then Force-slams the man in front of him back, crashing into two Knights behind him. A Knight on his right and a Knight on his left charge towards him, sabers drawn.

He swings precisely to meet a blow to his right, then ducks to miss a blow from the left. He steps forward, rising to find himself dead center in a ring of Knights.

They all charge towards him at once, but he easily deflects them. Ben's fought off all six of his own Knights, students well trained in the Force and the martial arts of the Dark side. In comparison, fighting these novices is like swatting away flies. He expertly disarms one, then another. They desperately scramble after their weapons as he kicks and thrashes at their comrades, slamming one into a stack of metal crates. The sound of electric crackling fills the expanse of the storage facility. He meets blow after blow with relaxed precision, occasionally casting charging Knights back into nearby piles of junk.

Out of nowhere, a shrill ringing explodes in his mind, instantly bringing him to his knees. Instinctively, he closes his eyes, dropping his saber and jamming his index fingers to his ears. For a few seconds, he reels in pain on the cold floor. He finally forces himself to open his eyes and look around. He's not the only one on the ground. All of the Knights are writhing, hands at their heads.

Just as suddenly as it started, the ringing stops.

Ben brings his hands down and looks around the room, alert and ready.

"Welcome."

He shoots up and spins around towards the sound of the cool, soft voice behind him.

A man stands in front of a door a few paces ahead. He's rather small, short in stature with wiry limbs. He stands pert and straight, shoulders back, hands clasped gingerly in front of him as though he were a butler. He has a long face with high cheekbones and delicate features, hair cropped short and so thin he almost appears to be bald. His eyes are wide and bright blue. He looks out expectantly at Ben.

"Welcome," he repeats, stepping forward, a storm of emotions in his gaze. He's enthralled, eager but also simmering with tension, vague and unsettling. A smile creeps across his face— more of a half-smile. Almost sad. He can't take his eyes off Ben.

"Your face is not at all what I pictured." The man shakes his head as he continues to stare intently. Ben looks down at him, guarded.

"Forgive me." He finally looks away, regarding the Knights now standing. "I should make the introductions. Friends." His right arm shoots out, palm up, gesturing towards them. "Remove your masks." His tone is strangely warm and inviting.

Ben looks back at the figures behind him. They stand awkwardly for a few seconds, uncertain. Then the tallest one unclicks and removes his mask, revealing a blue-skinned Chiss man with glowing red eyes. Slowly, the rest of the Knights follow his lead.

"This here is Jer'ah, from Csilla of course." The small man steps past Ben, extending his arm towards the Chiss. The red eyes regard Ben dispassionately.

"Vikander from Ganthel." He points to a young, sandy-haired man with freckles across his face.

"Ekemma of the Eriadu." A tall, ebony-skinned woman nods.

"Ty and Mouse of… somewhere in the outer rim, I forget where." The man gives a short laugh as he points to two dark haired young men, boys really, who look to be in their late teens.

"And Anh-Li of Iskalon." A short woman with smooth, jet black hair looks to Ben curiously.

"I am Zax of Gan Moradir." The short man brings a palm to his heart and bows slightly. He raises his head to look intently at Ben, a half-smile still on his face. He takes a step back as if to get a better look at him.

"And this, my friends, is our very special guest. Kylo Ren."

All of the Knights visibly react, some gasping, some shooting their heads up to Ben then to Zax then to Ben again. Anh-Li stares up at him with wide eyes, confounded.

" _What?_ " She asks in disbelief.

"It's true." Zax nods his head almost cheerily. "The one and only. The infamous."

"But he's dead," Ekemma says forcefully but with uncertainty in her eyes.

"No. No" Zax replies. "He's right here. This is him. Supreme Leader of the First Order. Master of the Knights of Ren."

Ben shifts nervously, sensing the growing tension in the room.

Anh-Li reels back, shaking her head in denial. "That's not possible."

Zax sighs, exasperated but amused. He turns towards Ben.

"Tell them, Kylo. Tell them who you are." He raises his eyebrows expectantly, then nudges his head towards the Knights. They all look at him, eagerly awaiting his reply.

Ben freezes, looking to the left then the right. He straightens a bit, cautiously scanning the dumbfounded crowd. He takes a breath, very slowly…

"It's true." Ben feels a wave of shock ripple through the room. Anh-Li looks up at him, mouth gaping. She steps towards him, incredulous.

A long moment of silence passes.

In an instant, Anh-Li lunges at Ben with all her might, barreling towards his core. His arm shoots out to catch her, then fling her off. She trips, falling and sliding back. She immediately scrambles up to her feet and lunges at him again.

" _You killed my parents_ , _you bastard_!" She cries in a snarling rage. This time, she rams into Ben and he staggers back. Her fists fly at his face and chest, striking him. He reaches out and grabs both of her wrists with his hands, then pushes her back. She starts at him again but doesn't make it two steps before falling to her knees, fingers at her ears.

"That's enough, Anh," Zax says with a wave of his hand. Ahn-Li releases her palms to the floor. She breathes heavily, staring down. Mouse steps forward and kneels down beside her, gently resting his hands on her shoulders. He nods his head against hers, then rises with her slowly. She looks up at Ben, jaw tightened, tears streaming down her face, fury in her eyes. She stomps a foot as she turns sharply and storms towards a door to the left. She stops abruptly and swings around.

" _Why did you bring him here_?" She demands Zax.

"Because, Anh, believe it or not, he's on our side," he responds, opening his arms to gesture on either side of him.

"What do you mean?" The Chiss man asks in his deep voice, suddenly intrigued.

"I mean he's our ally and he has no idea." Zax looks towards Ben.

"When I saw you at the funeral, I didn't know who you were," he starts, taking a step towards him, blue eyes fixed on his. "Which was strange because Rey seemed so intimate with you and I thought I'd thoroughly catalogued all of her closest friends. But never once had I ever seen you…" He gazes up in half wonder, smirking slightly.

"So I peeked inside your mind to find out about the mystery man." Zax wiggles his eyebrows with a mocking expression. "And imagine my surprise. I, along with the rest of the galaxy thought you were dead. But no. You're alive. Alive and well. Of course, I had to take advantage of the opportunity. When else would I get a chance to rifle through Kylo Ren's thoughts? That's when I discovered it… our like minds." Zax smiles knowingly.

The Knights around him are all looking at Zax with confusion, some growing impatient.

"Friends, what if I told you that it was Kylo Ren who destroyed Starkiller II and the entire First Order fleet? Still more, what if I told you that Kylo Ren tried to make it so that no one in this galaxy could channel the power of the Force, even though doing so would've killed him?"

At this, everyone's eyes snap to Ben. The two boys are gaping at him. Anh-Li steps towards him, rage abated somewhat by surprise.

"Yes. See, he's our ally," Zax continues with excitement in his voice. "He knows the Force is chaos, don't you Kylo? He knows the Force is cold and unfeeling. He knows how channeling its power corrupts the soul. You feel it right now, don't you? Those scars too deep to touch, irritating, gnawing, reminding you of all the pain you caused through it. Reminding you of how it twisted your mind. How was it that Snoke lured you into his thrall? You don't have to tell me. I already know. The Force. He used it to enter your child's mind, didn't he? Whispering, taunting, darkening. You didn't even know what was happening, did you? No, you just thought you were born with some dark seed inside of you. It wasn't until later when you realized that the voice wasn't your own… but that of an _interloper_." At this last word, Zax lets out a bemused laugh, casting his eyes over to the Knights as though he just made some sort of inside joke. They don't react. The boys are still gaping at him, but the others are staring blankly into space, deep in thought.

"Eventually, you came to see Snoke for what he was, didn't you? Daddy was right all along." Zax pouts mockingly before taking a step towards Ben, blue eyes fixed on his, brimming with a knowing joy. "That's why you killed your master, didn't you? And that's why you decided to take all those precious artifacts you'd been collecting for him to your grandfather's castle on Mustafar. You were going to end it there, weren't you? Destroy them all. Weaken the Force. Free the galaxy from the corrupting influence of its power. But she stopped you, didn't she? Rey. She kept you from fulfilling your destiny. _And then she unleashed this plague upon us_." Zax's eyes grow dark with a cold and barely controlled rage. He's right in front of Ben, fixed on him with a manic focus. "It haunts you, doesn't it?" He spits the words out, practically seething. "It haunts your dreams. The _fact_ that it will happen all over again. A new evil will take up the mantle that you discarded. And reign down twice the terror upon this galaxy that you ever did." Zax takes a step back and pauses, jaw set in anger. He lets these last words sink in.

"See, friends." On a dime, Zax's expression lightens into a pert cheerfulness. He looks around at him, chipper and pleased with himself. "He's our ally."

The room is heavy with silence.

Ben feels so numb he can barely sense his own breath. His mind and body are stunned with what this small, unstable man just revealed to him… and how much he knows. He's clearly been deep into Ben's mind, seen things he keeps well-hidden. And all of this on the day of the funeral? Ben's had much practice in his lifetime learning to detect another presence in his mind, and yet he did not feel this man rifling through his thoughts. Perhaps grief dulled his Force senses… or perhaps this man is more powerful than he realized.

Suddenly, the Chiss man straightens and strides calmly towards Ben. His face is neutral and his glowing red eyes impassive. Ben senses the man's remarkably even-keeled nature, his inclination towards logical thinking. The man— Jer'ah, was it?— extends a hand towards him. Ben reaches out to take it tentatively. Jer'ah grips him tightly with a firm shake. He gives Ben a distinct nod before turning to walk away.

Zax looks on approvingly, clasping his hands in front of his face. He sighs, almost dreamily. Then he suddenly straightens, alarmed, as if he just remembered something and turns to the right.

"I'm sorry, Anh. Knowing all of this doesn't make it better. Not for me either. He took something precious from us. Something he can never give back." Zax's head swings towards Ben again. "But he can try to make up for it. By helping us. You must admit, he is a valuable ally. His access to Rey, her schools…" As he says this, his eyes gleam hungrily. A sick feeling begins to brew in Ben's gut.

There's still a trace of anger in Anh-Li's eyes, but it's largely subsided into a grudging resignation. She shifts her head towards Zax and nods, then turns to leave the room. Before she does, she looks up briefly to Ben and he sees a flash of pain flicker across her face. She exits swiftly without closing the door.

Another heavy silence descends over the room. Zax is staring into nothing with a vague intensity. The Knights still stare at Ben wordlessly. Ekemma's guarded expression has lightened into faint curiosity.

Ben finally finds the self-possession to take a deep breath, forcing air into his still tight chest. He steps forward suddenly and Vikander jumps, taking a step back. Ben stops then proceeds again carefully, taking a seat on a nearby crate. He looks around the room with cautious eyes.

"What is it that you're trying to do?" He asks slowly. "And why do you think I can help you?"

Zax's eyes roll up to the ceiling as if he's thinking… or avoiding eye contact.

"We want the Senate to shut down Rey's schools," Jer'ah finally says in his deep voice. "And ban the training of Force-sensitives. We want the development of Force power to be discouraged across the galaxy."

Ben considers this answer for a few moments.

"And how does resurrecting the Knights of Ren to terrorize and slaughter senators achieve this aim?" There's a coldness in his voice.

"Because!" Zax snaps out of his trance, springing to life again. His blue eyes engage Ben's with a maniacal gleam. "What image represents the destructive nature of the Force better than that of Kylo Ren?" He asks the question as if the answer is self-evident. "Nothing! Vader, maybe," he concedes as an afterthought. "But the wounds you left in the galaxy are far more fresh. What better way to catalyze the Senate into swift and decisive action? To squelch out the New Age before it begins?"

"And you believe this justifies killing people?" Ben probes.

"Ha!" Ekemma interrupts suddenly. "What a hypocrite you are, to ask such a question. You've killed for a cause your whole life. Apparently, you destroyed your own soldiers and fleet. How many Stormtroopers adopted their profession by choice? Huh? And yet you blew them all up without a second thought. Not that I disagree with you. You did what you had to do to finally bring peace to this galaxy. _We_ are trying to do nothing less."

" _Exactly_ ," Vikander chimes in. "What's a handful of deaths compared to the destruction of the Hosnian system? If killing a few senators now keeps someone like Snoke or you from rising at the helm of another First Order, then I say it's the right thing to do."

Ben is effectively silenced by these responses. He recognizes this logic. He's intimately familiar with it.

"The First Order killed our family." One of the boys speaks up, the older one. He can't be much older than eighteen, lean but sturdy with dark hair hanging around his eyes. "We lived in a mining town on Raydonia. The First Order destroyed it and took over the mine. We're the only ones who survived." The younger one peers blankly ahead as his brother speaks.

"Same story, different planet." Vikander shakes his head and crosses his arms. "Only we put up more of fight. The First Order wanted control of the Kotaska shipyards. They thought they could brush us to the side, but boy, were they in for a surprise. They found out what so-called Ganthel scum can really do. We held 'em off for ten whole months." His voice swells with pride as he says this. Then his expression quickly drops. "But they were patient. And relentless. They chipped us off little by little until we were just a handful, small enough to fit on a light freighter by the end of it." The sandy haired man stares off into space with a shell-shocked expression.

"We all have stories like this." The deep voice of the Chiss man is smooth and devoid of emotion. "Snoke and my father were allies until he betrayed and killed him. Ekemma's sisters died protecting an ancient artifact from the Knights of Ren. There are two others, not here now, whose families were also killed by the Knights. And according to Anh-Li, you were there the day her parents were murdered. You swung the blade." His glowing red eyes seem to cut through Ben like a laser.

"We don't dress like the Knights to honor them, or you," he continues. "We dress like the Knights to remind people of the great evil that can be accomplished through Force power. And we will continue to do so until the Senate is moved to decisive action." Jer'ah takes a step towards Ben, his gaze even and his expression neutral. "Will you join us? Will you help us keep the galaxy safe from those who would abuse the Force's power?"

A wave of anticipation rushes upon Ben as the room awaits his answer. Zax narrows his blue eyes, tilting his head back expectantly. Ben burns with internal conflict the likes of which he hasn't felt in some time.

These aren't monsters. They're broken things. They're remnants of the destruction he wrought. He can't help but instinctively feel a strong sense of responsibility for them. If not for his actions, would they have found themselves in this situation? It's a cruel irony they seem disturbingly unaware of… they are the very danger they seek to snuff out… instruments of a powerful Force-sensitive with mysterious motives and little regard for consequences. The Interloper is dishonest with his followers. That much was clear before he got here. But now that he's met him and seen his dynamic with the Knights, he can sense that he has some kind of sway over them.

Ben thinks of the prisoner at Takodana, trapped in a never-ending nightmare. He halts the thought as soon as it crosses his mind. He must be careful…

"Yes," he answers finally. Zax physically relaxes, immensely pleased with this answer. Jer'ah gives Ben a firm nod and the other Knights follow his lead.

"First thing's first," the blue-skinned man begins without skipping a beat. "Tell us everything you know about Rey's schools. We hear there's a boy who can actually _create_ Force-sensitivity. Is this true? Is Rey using him to build an army of Force-sensitives?" For the first time, Jer'ah's tone is the slightest bit urgent.

"Let's not accost our guest with such questions so immediately, eh?" Zax interrupts before Ben can speak, laying a hand on Jer'ah's shoulder. "He's exhausted, can't you see? We've given him so much to process. Ty, Mouse— why don't you go prepare a place for him to sleep? The rest of you, leave us. I must have a few words with our newest recruit privately." His eyes fix on Ben with a bright eagerness that somehow feels ominous.

The Knights turn to follow Zax's command. All except for Jer'ah. He stands still and waits for the others to leave before walking close to Zax and hunching close to his ear. The Chiss man speaks quietly. Ben closes his eyes and reaches out with his senses to listen.

"My friend, forgive me, but I must ask. Did you…?" Jer'ah hesitates. An awkward silence passes. "Did you intend to lead Vikander to this man and not Solomon?" Zax pulls back, looking up at the man with a hurt expression. "Of course not," he insists as he waves a hand. "It was an honest mistake. A fortunate one." Zax turns his head towards Ben and smiles.

Jer'ah accepts this answer without question, turning to exit and close the door behind him.

Zax immediately launches towards Ben, pulling up a chair and sitting uncomfortably close to him. He studies his face as though he were an inanimate object and not a living thing.

"You really don't look at all like I pictured you," Zax says in wonder with his head half-cocked. "You just look… _so human_. Those eyes, so full emotion and conflict. I never imagined such a face beneath that mask." He pulls back suddenly, crossing his arms and looking off into space with a distant expression.

"I used to lie awake at night picturing what your face looked like. I heard Darth Vader was nothing but pale, loose skin and a twisted, broken body under his helmet. Were you the same, I wondered? Just a run-down fragment of a human being? I could only picture someone monstrous. Someone crooked and obviously deformed, maybe with sallow skin. Nothing like you." Zax looks back at him suddenly with an intense expression, eyes boring unforgiving holes into his.

"You know, Anh's not the only one of us whose family you killed with your own hands." Zax leans even closer to Ben with a fixed gaze. Ben can feel his breath on his face. "You killed my younger brother. I saw _it_." He spits as he articulates the T. "He was hiding behind a barricade we'd thrown together just hours before. You approached him with your red hot saber and struck him down." He thrusts himself back in the chair, taking a sharp, angry breath. Then he shakes his head quickly and leans forward again, expression lightening into curiosity.

"Not immediately, though. You hesitated first. I always wondered why. Was it just to scare him? Was it to give him time to run away? What was it? Or do you even remember it at all?" Zax looks into Ben's eyes eagerly.

Ben's chest tightens so much he can barely manage to breathe. The nightmare. He had it not too long ago. He remembers. He remembers hesitating. Hesitating like he did when his father reached out to him on Starkiller… torn between an instinct to kill and an instinct to show compassion. He made the wrong choice. He made the wrong choice then and many times since.

He _will not_ make the wrong choice now.

Suddenly, Zax leans in even closer, eyes peering into his as though he can see through them.

"You really aren't the same man you were then, are you?" His gaze softens as he asks the question. Ben stares at him wordlessly, unsure of how to respond.

Zax sits back in the chair without breaking eye contact. "Do you know what I like about you?" he asks, pointing to him. "You wouldn't dare try to apologize for what you did. To me. To Anh. To any of us. You wouldn't dare because you know such a trite gesture would be an insult. Better to say nothing at all." He flicks his wrist as he crosses his legs, eyes still on Ben.

"Not that it matters to me anymore," he continues. "I see beyond now. My gifts offer me a kind of bird's eye view of things, if you will. So I can forgive past grievances for the sake of the bigger picture, you see. The Force has broadened the scope of my mind to a degree I could have never imagined." He shakes his head in bright-eyed wonder.

"I thought you hated the Force," Ben interjects flatly. "I thought you wanted to discourage its use across the galaxy."

Zax narrows his eyes at him, annoyed.

"The Force is chaos, it's true. It's turbulent, raw power. It cannot be tamed. It cannot be broken." Zax's expression brightens. " _But it can be manipulated_. Manipulated in tremendous, horrifying ways." His expression falls.

"But you know all about that. Which is why you know, _you feel_ as I do, that this New Age is a path to disaster." His eyes storm with intensity. "The power of the Force is a corruption in the souls of all but the Elect."

"The Elect?" Ben jerks his head back slightly, confused.

Zax shakes his head dismissively. "You wouldn't understand. And you don't have to. Because you understand enough. You understand Rey has put this galaxy in terrible danger and she must be stopped. I saw it. I saw it that day at the funeral. No matter how much you try to banish the thought, you still feel in your heart of hearts that you betrayed your destiny. You let her heal you. You let her access your power. And then she used it to spread the very chaos you were trying to banish." He practically snarls this, nostrils flaring, leaning in towards him. "Now tell me the thought doesn't keep you up at night. That someone in one of these schools will rebel just like you did and twist their use of the Force to dark purpose."

Ben steels himself, feeling vulnerable, like an open sore.

It's time to turn the tables. He reaches out with his Force senses into Zax's mind. He's not there long before Zax casts him out with a huff, more amused than angry.

"My, my. You are a powerful one, aren't you?" Zax tsks his tongue, smirking.

"But not Elect." Ben squints his eyes mockingly at Zax.

Zax shoots up in abrupt anger, fuming over Ben. "You think you saw something, do you? _You don't know what seeing is_." He reaches into Ben's mind and seems to swim through his thoughts, exploring them swiftly with a light and agile touch. He rears back suddenly, groaning in disgust.

"I see things have changed since I last saw you." He retakes his seat, face contorted in loathing. "Rey's starting to get to you. All her nonsense about your destiny as co-leaders. But let me ask you something, my friend. When you think about what she's doing, what she's planning to teach to her students, how does it make you feel? Be honest with yourself, now…" Zax leans forward with giddy menace and Ben looks away.

"That's what I thought." Zax says, relaxing with self-assurance. "You can't deny your true destiny. I see it. I see you. I see you, Kylo Ren. You call yourself Ben Solo but you're still Kylo Ren in your soul. You will never be fully rid of him, not as long as you have those scars. And it's those scars that drove you to Mustafar; it's those scars that remind you of what you must do." He leans forward, clear blue eyes piercing Ben's with cold intensity. "The only question is will you continue to let your love for a girl prevent you from doing it?"

Ben looks back at him, guarded with a tinge of resentment.

Zax maintains his razor-sharp gaze, smirking.

Ben finally looks away, feeling uneasy and exposed.

Zax sits back in his chair, a smug expression on his face.

"You're still conflicted. That's ok. I understand. It seems to be your natural state, doesn't it? But if there's one thing I've learned since developing these abilities, it's that people's thoughts don't always reflect what they actually do. In your mind you are conflicted, yes. But the real question is: will you resolve that conflict through your actions?" His tone is hopeful, almost ecstatic.

Ben isn't looking at Zax. He's staring off into space, deep in thought.

Zax commands his attention when he bursts forth suddenly, face close to his, brimming with anticipation.

"I want to give you a chance to discover the answer, to find out for yourself whose side you're really on." His eyes twinkle knowingly.

Ben blinks, his expression neutral. He sits in silences for a minute, keeping his mind as calm and still as possible. Finally, he speaks.

"What exactly do you have in mind?"


	18. Chapter 17: Having Faith

The air on Cantonica is hot and dry, but not oppressively so. Not like Jakku.

Canto Bight had been a resort town, after all. The days are arid and crisp with gentle breezes frequently interrupting the heat. The nights are warm and bright with the light of three moons. It feels like a paradise.

And right now, it looks like one. It always does when the suns set and deepen the sky into an amber glow. Thick, fluffy tufts of clouds line the expanse of the heavens, illuminated with golden rays that make them appear translucent and blended. Glittering streaks of light from two red orbs glide across the rippling waters of the Sea of Cantonica and meet to form a brilliant mirage of color dancing above the waves.

But Rey notices none of this. She charges swiftly down the open deck with a to-do list written across her face. Several of the dorm rooms are open, students peering out after her as she flies by. She doesn't stop to greet them like she normally would. Part of her feels guilty about this. But the dominant part doesn't care about anything but the task at hand.

The transport is fueled and ready, packed with everything except for individual cargo. That needs to go onboard too, but only after she double-checks with everyone first. Though she doesn't expect to be gone for long, she told the team it could take a week, even a month to find the Interloper. It's not likely, but it's possible. She needs to ensure everyone packs accordingly. And she needs some one-on-one time with her volunteers. She debriefed them together this morning, but it can be difficult to pinpoint individual reactions from a group. They're all scared... that she does know. And they should be. This mission will be dangerous. Any one of them could get hurt. Or die. Rey must know that each one of them understands this reality and accepts it.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out, banishing a sudden pang of anxiety and striding forward. She's seen everyone on the east side of the school and just told Dyson to come by for their luggage in an hour. Batu and Jessa are on the west side and Ismene's at the north end. But where's Skn Cei? He's not on the east side, is he? Did she miss him?

Rey stops abruptly just before she rams straight into Finn.

"Hey, whoa! You ok?" He holds his hands up, concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just focused. You're packed and ready to go, right?" Finn nods and starts to say something but Rey cuts him off.

"Good. Give your luggage to Uhde before sundown. Jian's too. You haven't changed your mind about him, have you?"

Finn rolls his eyes. "No, Rey. For the tenth time, I'm ok with bringing Jian. In fact, if I didn't let him come, I honestly think he'd stow away on board, so regardless of what I say, Jian's coming."

Rey sighs and shakes her head, briefly casting her gaze upwards. "He's so eager for something he doesn't understand. I'm not letting him fight with us when it comes to that, Finn." She looks him dead in the eyes. "I don't care what he says. He's eleven years old. It's not time for that yet. He'll know why when he's older."

"I appreciate that, Rey." Finn nods his head towards his friend, then leans in a little. "Good luck keeping him away from the fight." He raises an eyebrow with a wry expression.

"You're not helping with that attitude." She steps around him and begins walking down the long, open deck again.

"I'm just being realistic!" Finn calls, catching up to walk beside her. "I know my son."

"You're making me rethink bringing him at all." Rey spits out, agitated.

"Remember what I said about being a stow away?" He struggles to match her pace.

She huffs. "Maybe we don't have to take off so early tomorrow. Maybe Jian can enhance the team before we leave. Then he can stay here at the school."

"But what if it wears off before we get to the Interloper?" Finn protests. "You told us this morning it could take a month to track him down."

"It's not going to take that long." Rey responds reflexively. "I mean, it's possible and I want the team to understand that. But, it's not going to take that long."

"What makes you so confident?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Rey stops and pivots abruptly to face him. "I've told you, this is our golden opportunity. _Now_ is the time to find the Interloper. We have a better chance now than we ever will. Because Ben is with him. And Finn, trust me when I tell you" she leans in, " _I can find Ben_. We just need to get to the unknown regions. The closer I am to him, the stronger the bond will be." Rey nods decisively. "I'll be surprised if it takes more than two days."

"Rey, I hope you're right, but you can't be completely sure of that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be running around the school like mad, micromanaging everyone's packing." He gestures wildly as he says this.

"That's not really what I'm doing. I mean, it is, but it's not all I'm doing."

Finn narrows his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Rey steps in closer, lowering her voice.

"Finn, they could die on this mission. You know that. I know that. I need to be absolutely certain each one of them knows that. More importantly, I need to know how each one of them feels about it. No one is stepping foot on that transport tomorrow if I sense just the slightest bit of hesitation tonight. Speaking of which, Meil-Ju and Liam won't be coming with us anymore."

Finn's eyes widen with a mixture of shock and concern. He steps back and drags a hand over his face.

"Rey, I know you think you're doing the right thing, but what's you're _actually_ doing is scaring people. And for what? Slow down and think about it. Why are you doing this? Are you just trying to fool yourself into some peace of mind that everyone who volunteered is ready for this? Because I've got news for you. _They're not_." He takes a step towards her, gesturing with his right hand. "There's no getting around that. They've only been training for two years and most of that wasn't combat training. _That's_ why we need Jian to come with us. Just him being there will help the team feel more confident. And not only because he can enhance everyone's connection to the Force. He just has that effect on people. You've seen that."

Rey looks down, considering Finn's words. She knows he's right.

"Listen," Finn says, resting a hand gently on her shoulder. "You know I love you like a sister, and you know I'm loyal to you. So, when I say this, please don't take it the wrong way."

Finn closes his eyes, breathing deeply before he opens them again.

"Rey— you need to calm down. _Seriously._ You've been marching around the school for the last three days, barking orders, lashing out at people. You're putting everyone here on edge, the team especially. The last thing we need is to take off tomorrow morning feeling like our leader is on the verge of a mental breakdown."

Rey bows her head, nodding silently as she listens. She's felt this. She's felt how her own tumultuous emotions— her raging impatience, her manic desire to find the Interloper— have bled into those around her. But she's been too preoccupied to stop and consider the effect this is having on the school, her second family, this tight-knit community she's poured her heart and soul into creating.

Rey shakes her head, her throat tightening. She turns and walks towards the edge of the deck, finally noticing the glorious scene before her. She places her palms on the rail and leans forward, staring off into the disappearing suns. Finn stands silently behind her.

She can't help but feel profoundly disappointed in herself. The whole point of this place was to give Force-sensitives with troubled pasts a stable environment where they can grow in their power and learn to use it for good. But these days, the environment of the academy has been anything but stable. And it's her fault. Rey's beginning to understand why Leia always projected a confident front, despite any doubts or fears she may have had. She knew that a leader sets the tone for her followers. If she's confident in their mission, then they will be. But if she's not…

Rey sighs.

The emergence of the Interloper changed things. Her students were once so purpose-driven, so committed to the idea of becoming guardians of communities plagued by scarcity and crime just like the ones they came from. Now the students are nervous. They're less certain of why they're here, what they're training for.

The mission of this school, the other schools, this whole New Age… Rey sees it so clearly in her mind. She knows exactly what she wants to accomplish and why. Yet in trying to bring it to being, turning the vision into a reality… she's encountered problems that she never imagined. And now the vision is blurred.

"That senator was right, you know." Rey breaks the silence with a heavy voice. "The one who said that the school's mission is muddled now. It is."

She turns around to face Finn, crossing her arms and leaning back against the rail.

"I didn't create this place to hunt down delinquent Force-sensitives. Frankly, I didn't think there'd be a need for that in the first place, and yes, _I know_ , I see now that was a naïve assumption. But my students shouldn't have to pay for my mistake." Rey hardens her jaw decisively.

"I promised to train them to use the Force as a means to defend the people and places they love. Now I'm asking them to go on life-threatening missions to fight Force-wielding terrorists and telling them that policing these kinds of people is now part of what we're doing here." Rey's eyes widen in frustration.

"This isn't right," Rey shakes her head. "It isn't fair to them, or to you, or to Jian. We have to figure out another way to deal with people like the Knights."

Finn crosses his arms, taking a step forward.

"You're right." His gaze is steady. "You are. We have work to do, you and I. We need to get this school back on track, back on mission. But Rey… we've got a big problem to deal with right now and an awesome team of volunteers who are all old enough to decide for themselves if there are some things worth risking their lives for. They've _chosen_ to follow you, Rey. They know the stakes. They know how dangerous the Interloper is, how he could screw up everything we've been working for here. Let them fight to protect what we've built. You owe them that opportunity. And you owe them the confidence of a leader who believes in them."

Rey stands up straight, nodding firmly. He's right… he's right.

She suddenly feels a wave of gratitude overtake her. To have someone like Finn at a time like this, someone who is honest with her, who holds her accountable for her actions but also pledges unwavering loyalty… it inspires her to be a better leader.

"Thank you." She reaches out to briefly lay a hand on his shoulder. Finn's eyes crinkle into a gentle smile.

"Tell you what," he says as he straightens. "I'll finish up checking in with the rest of the team and packing the transport. You go to bed."

"Finn, it's barely sundown."

"So?" He cocks his head flippantly. "You've been up since dawn. I know you're exhausted. You don't have to go to sleep. _Just rest_. Regroup." He raises his eyebrows, nodding towards her.

She purses her lips, considering the suggestion. "I do need to check in on the girls."

"See!" He raises hands in a mock eureka moment. "There you go. Check on Irenie and Soya. Tell them I said hello. And if Jian is there, tell him to get his butt back to his room." He brings a hand to her back and guides her along the deck. "Leave the rest of the preparations to me— you were just heading to the west end, yeah?"

"And the north," Rey responds. "And I haven't seen Skn Cei yet, wherever he is."

"Got it." He pushes her a little more, and she begins walking towards her quarters on the south end.

Rey hears Finn's footsteps grow more distant behind her. Suddenly, she whips around and calls out to him.

"Hey!"

Finn stops and turns towards her.

"This is all going to be over soon." She projects the words in a calm, confident tone. " _Very_ soon. I can feel it."

He cocks his head in doubt but doesn't say anything. Rey maintains a cool, even gaze.

"I hope so." Finn looks back at her. She senses contradiction— his instinct towards pessimism grating against an instinct to trust her.

"If you can't trust me, Finn, trust in the Force. Reach out for the truth and you'll find it." A corner of her mouth turns up into a knowing half smile.

He tilts his head, a bit mystified, then gives her a mock salute before turning to walk away.

Rey shakes her head in amusement. She watches him leave until he becomes smaller and smaller then disappears behind a corner.

She turns slowly and, for the first time in days, actually _strolls_ down the walkway. Since Takodana, her life has been an endless frenzy of motion. She's barely had time to sleep, much less stroll.

Everything's in disarray. Leia, her mentor, her political powerhouse, is gone. The New Knights are killing senators and kidnapping people. She has no idea where the Interloper is, where Ben is. The Senate is growing increasingly restless, impatient to act. Her school's mission is unfocused; her students are starting to feel lost and uncertain.

Rey should be in utter despair, an absolute wreck. In some ways, she is.

And yet, even as the days grow increasingly turbulent and her insides squirm with anxiety, she feels a deep pull from within, like the roots of an ancient tree growing inside her. It's so strange. But it's been happening since Mustafar and getting _stronger_. It's her connection to the Force. It's like… being able to read its mind, if it can be said to have such a thing. What she reads is so beyond her capacity understand that she can't really articulate it in a way that makes sense. But this connection has nurtured a part of her that is learning to interpret what she feels. It's like a deeper consciousness. Beneath the immediacy of life in the moment, her joys and fears and doubts and sorrows, lies a consciousness beyond time and space. This is what the Force awakened in her on Mustafar— a new kind of perception.

It's how she knows that everything's coming to a head. Resolution, in whatever form it may take, is just around the corner. The deeper part of her feels calm in the certainty of this.

But this does not banish her anxiety.

It does not help _at all_ that Ben hasn't responded to any of her attempts to reach out to him.

That, more than anything, has increasingly tested her patience and her sanity for the past five days. _Five days_. It's felt like a lifetime.

It makes sense that the Interloper would knock him unconscious for the first couple of days. He knows who Ben is… why else would he have captured him? He knows how powerful he is. The Interloper wouldn't take any chances with him en route.

But surely he's taken Ben to his hideout by now. So _why is he still unconscious?_ She can't pass a quiet moment without this question nagging at her.

The simplest explanation is that the Interloper wants to mine his thoughts for information. On what? It could be any number of things. The First Order. The Knights of Ren. Knowledge of the Force. Her.

But then, there are the more unsettling possibilities. Has he erased Ben's memories? Or manipulated them to make him think she's his enemy? Has he reprogrammed him into one of his Knights?

 _No._

She would have felt it if any of these things had happened.

 _No._

She has faith in her bond with Ben. Faith in their destiny. Faith in the Force. She can't see the road ahead but the calm center in her core knows that whatever the destination, it's exactly where they need to be.

Rey rounds the corner of the deck to the south end and is surprised to see Clea leaning over the rail, gazing out ahead and the sky, her purple robes waving gently in the breeze. When the young woman hears her footsteps approaching, she suddenly straightens and turns to face her. She nervously brings a hand up to her black curls, shaking them a bit, then clasps her hands in front her, bringing her shoulder back and down.

Rey feels a twist in the pit of her stomach. Clea looks as though she's about to deliver bad news…

"Where are the girls?" Rey asks her immediately, concerned.

"They are… asleep," Clea announces a bit too cheerily.

"What?" Rey's eyes widen in surprise. "You're kidding, right? It's only sundown. Even Ben can't get them to bed a second before nine. What did you do today?"

Clea slides her jaw to the right, hesitant. "Well…" she draws out the word. "It's not so much about what we did today as what the girls did last night."

Rey tilts her head, eyebrows knit, curious.

"You see," the young woman continues, "As it turns out… Jian woke them up around midnight and took them out swimming in the ocean. Apparently, they stayed out all night and never slept." She says this last part quickly, wincing a little as though bracing for an impact.

Rey immediately lets out a chuckle, looking down and shaking her head. Clea visibly relaxes a little.

"I'm so, sorry," she tells Rey, stepping forward. "You and Aradia have been so generous letting me come here to learn and the only thing you asked of me in return was to look after the girls, and I completely failed. I should have sensed it when they left. I don't know—"

"You wouldn't have had a chance," Rey cuts her off with a laugh. "Jian's gotten very good at cloaking. And don't be sorry. Honestly, I'm glad to hear the girls are having some fun, going on adventures. It'll help keep their mind off things."

Clea's taking a deep breath now, clearly relieved at Rey's reception of her news.

"How are they?" Rey asks her, failing to conceal an undertone of concern.

"Rey," Clea responds in a gentle voice, brown eyes welling with empathy, "You're worrying yourself too much. They're doing a lot better than you think. Soya, frankly, doesn't quite get the situation. And Jian has been an _excellent_ distraction for Irenie. He's been so good for her, and so supportive of the memory reframing. He's with us when we do it every morning. And she told me today that she's been sleeping better."

Rey lets out a long, satisfying exhale. "That is so good hear. _Thank you_ , Clea. Thank you for everything you're doing. If you weren't—"

Clea stops Rey by raising a palm in the air. "No, no. It's _my_ honor to be here. You have no idea how much I believe in the idea of this place, of building a better future. I should be thanking you for the chance to be a part of it."

Rey smiles and nods her head, fighting to take the compliment without protest and deeply grateful for this small encouragement.

"You should know something before you go." Clea's face suddenly falls solemn. "Irenie did have a bit of a… breakdown today."

Rey's eyebrows shoot up in concern.

"It was nothing terribly serious, just a tantrum." Clea gestures with her right hand. "We had a long talk afterwards and we got to the root of it. She confessed that she feels guilty she never told Ben that she loved him or asked if she could call him dad. Now she's scared she'll never get the chance."

At this, Rey takes a confident step forward, her chin jutting up.

"When Irenie wakes up tomorrow, you tell her that she'll be calling Ben dad by the end of the week."

Clea's eyes widen in surprise, but she doesn't ask Rey about this or challenge her. She simply nods her head in that strange way that seems both eager and hesitant at the same time.

Rey looks down, taking a breath. She looks over towards the door to Irenie and Soya's quarters.

"I suppose I won't be telling them goodbye, then." Rey sighs, then looks up at Clea. "It's just as well. I'm terrible at goodbyes. And I won't be gone long, anyhow."

Clea's face twinges in doubt at this bit she nods anyways.

"How do you feel?" Rey asks her. "Do you need anything before I leave?"

"No," Clea shakes her head. "I've got Uhde to help. And I love it here. Aradia's been talking about sending me for weeks. This has been good. I'm learning a lot I can take back with me to Takodana."

"You're gonna learn _a lot_ more after we track down the Interloper, I promise you that," Rey assures her. "I'll be giving you my full attention."

"Rey, right now, just focus on what you need to do." The young woman lays a gentle hand on her shoulder. "The girls are in good hands." Clea's voice is full of sincerity.

Rey lets out a breath. " _Thank you_."

"You're welcome." Clea bows her head gracefully. Then she nods curtly towards Rey's quarter's just behind her. "Now to bed with you." Clea smirks a little. Rey smiles.

"You don't have to tell me twice." She lays a hand on Clea's shoulder as well and the women embrace for a moment. "I'll be back before you start to miss me," Rey tells her, then pulls away to give a knowing look.

Clea shakes her head a little disbelievingly. "One day," she starts with a smile, "when I _truly_ grow up," she laughs a bit, "I aspire to have your kind of faith in things."

Rey grunts softly and looks down, feeling flattered yet undeserving. She gives one deep nod in response. Then she steps to the side and makes her way to her quarters.

When she reaches the door, she enters the passcode in the panel next to it.

The lights turn on gently as she enters the room. It's not in the best shape… junk strewn across the floor, dead flower petals and detritus piling up on the bedside table, sheets crumpled and twisted around the bedpost.

Rey heads straight for the bed and sinks down slowly onto the mattress. She pulls off her boots and socks then tosses them to the side. She peels off her jacket and casts it across the room.

She takes a deep breath into her lungs, then releases slowly and deliberately, a long, endless stream of air pouring out of her. It seems to carry with it the weight of the emotions that have been bearing down on her all week— the anxiety, the anger, the fear.

It's all going to be over soon. Some part of her takes solace in that. But another part worries about _how_ all of this will resolve. After all, resolution isn't in itself a good thing… she might not like the results.

Rey scoots back on the bed and leans forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

She can't help but feel that this tension inside her would go away if she knew _for sure_ that Ben was alright. If she could just hear his voice in her mind, telling her that he's ok. That would be all she needed.

She must have reached out to him a thousand times since the Knights took him. She's focused on that feeling, the pure warmth of selfless love, calling out to him through the Force, through the connection they share.

But silence has been the answer every time.

A tear forms at the corner of her eye and slips down her cheek. _Why isn't he answering?_ _What has the Interloper done to him?_

Rey clasps her hands together and pulls her shoulders down.

She's going to find him… it's the one thing she's _sure_ the Interloper can't undo or interfere with: her bond with Ben. They'll get to the unknown regions tomorrow and she'll follow her Force senses right to him.

Suddenly, her shoulders hang heavy. Another tear escapes down her cheek.

No matter how many times she tells herself this, she just can't banish the nervous gnawing in her stomach.

Rey squeezes her eyes shut as several more tears stream down her face. She takes a breath sharply and holds it in. She thinks about Ben… she thinks about his heart, about the compassion he's capable of. She thinks about the man he's becoming, what an excellent father he is to Irenie and Soya. She just _knew_ he'd be a natural at it. Because at the root of all of his angry outbursts, his malcontent, is just a lonely boy who yearned for unconditional love. When presented with the opportunity, he gave this generously to two little girls who desperately needed it. He can be such a _good man_ when he lets himself be one…

The warmth of pure love, full and unguarded, wells within her. She squeezes her eyes tighter and channels the feeling to reach out, reach out through the Force… she can't stop herself. She knows she'll be disappointed. But she just needs him. She _needs him_. She needs to reach out to him.

She wants him so badly she can sense his presence in the room with her, the ultimate wish fulfillment, the creation of a deep, primal desire.

She pushes the air out of her lungs forcefully, sitting up and bringing a palm to her face to wipe away tears. She shakes her head and turns.

Ben's sitting right next to her.

Rey freezes, uncertain if she's seeing things. Is this real? She reaches over tentatively to his face… her fingertips touch his warm flesh.

Immediately, she flings herself into his arms, sobbing. He embraces her, pulling her back on the bed with him and bringing her body close to his. She practically curls up in his lap, burying her face in his chest, wrapping her arms tightly around him as though she's terrified he'll disappear. He lays back against the bed panel, cupping the back of her head with his hand. He holds her close, rocking her gently.

"I'm alright. It's alright," he keeps telling her.

Gradually her sobs die away and they both just lose themselves in the embrace, the body heat, the warmth of flesh and blood that seems to merge them, two halves coming together to complete a whole.

Suddenly, Rey sits up, scooting back, eyes urgent.

"What did he do to you? How were you able to answer me this time? Did you escape?"

Ben looks away, leaning forward. "I didn't escape."

Silence. Rey waits for a few moments but he doesn't volunteer any more information.

"How are the girls?" He asks, concerned, looking over at her.

"They're fine," Rey assures him. "Clea and I have been looking after them. Irenie's sleeping better, but she's worried about you. Soya doesn't really understand what's going on. But, they're both ok." Ben nods his head, satisfied by this answer, then looks away again, hunching over to rest his elbows on his knees.

"Are _you_ ok?" Rey asks tentatively after a few seconds. "I mean, you seem ok. What's been going on? What's he been doing to you?" She looks at him eager for an answer but he doesn't return her gaze. Instead, he stands up and takes a few steps towards the window. He crosses his arms, his back to her.

"Ben?" Rey starts to feel uneasy. She's tempted to read his mind, but she fights the impulse.

"He hasn't done anything to me," Ben finally says. "He's been quite hospitable, actually. He put me in better quarters than his Knights. I've been… getting to know them over the past few days."

Rey's stomach drops at these last words. At first, she's stunned, completely shocked. Then the realization begins to creep over her like a low, angry rumble.

"Wait a minute." She adjusts herself forward on the bed. Ben stands unmoving, his back still to her.

"You've been conscious and fully in control of yourself for days?" She asks the question in denial. He doesn't answer her.

Her mouth gapes open and her face begins to flush. "I must have reached out to you…" she scoffs, "I don't know how many times. I lost count. Did you not feel that, _Ben_?" Her voice grows more insistent.

"I felt it." He answers flatly.

Now, Rey's chest starts to burn. She stands abruptly, her body taut.

"So… if you felt it, _why didn't you respond?_ " The question sounds like an accusation.

Ben doesn't answer her immediately. Every second he waits, she feels the fire inside her burn hotter. "I needed some time… to process," he says finally.

She lets out a short huff of disbelief. "You needed time to process." She repeats the words half mocking, half incredulous.

"Yes." His voice is detached, distracted even.

" _Ben._ " Rey's voice rises as she takes several steps towards him. "You _have_ _got_ to be kidding me." She stands right next to him, looking up with piercing eyes. He still stares straight ahead.

" _Look._ _At_. _Me_." Each word strikes like a dagger. He glances down. "You mean you didn't once consider answering in my mind, just to let me know you were ok, just to let me know you weren't dead?"

"If I had died, you would have felt it," he replies matter-of-factly.

Rey fumes. She hasn't wanted to physically hurt him in quite some time, but she is _this_ close…

She lets out an angry breath and reels back, turning a heel and take two quick steps away before whipping around.

"So, you're telling me that you couldn't be bothered to take a couple of seconds to let me know that you were alive and unharmed and would tell me more when you were able to?" Rey's hands are pressed tightly against her hips, her shoulders tense and squared.

Ben grunts and turns towards her. "Yes, because you would have just accepted that answer, right?" He retorts sarcastically.

Rey reels back again, starting to boil over. "I cannot _believe_ you!" She sputters. "I have been out of my mind for days, terrified…" She brings her palms to her temple, shaking her head.

Suddenly, Ben strides over to the side of the room to grip the edge of a chair and drag it just past the window. He sits and plants his feet wide, leaning forward with a straight back, looking over at her with razor-sharp focus in his eyes.

"Sit down." He commands, casting a glance over to the bed. Rey crosses her arms defiantly.

" _Sit down_ ," he repeats, enunciating each word.

Rey blinks, unmoving. His gaze pierces hers. She takes a step towards him… and reaches inside his mind.

A few seconds later, Rey gasps, uncrossing her arms. She looks up, a flash of realization in her eyes, then immediately turns back, bowing her head, focused intently on nothing. She walks to the bed and sits down.

She crosses her legs on the mattress, hands folded in her lap, staring ahead, eyes glazed over, dazed.

Ben sits on the chair directly across from her, looking at the floor, waiting for her to say something.

Rey's stunned, almost numb. Her mouth feels dry… she tries to gulp but instead a knot gets stuck in her throat. She brings a hand up to her neck, forcing herself to open her throat and breathe.

"So…" she begins finally, uncertain. "They asked you to join them. The Knights. They're like you. They think the Force is… evil?"

"They think it's dangerous," Ben replies, eyes still downcast. "They think you're putting the galaxy at risk by training people to use it. Everything they're doing… it's to scare the Senate into shutting down your schools."

The room falls silent. Deafeningly so. Rey feels her heartbeat pumping in her chest, faster than usual.

"They…" Ben continues slowly, "don't exactly understand what the Force is. Not really. Zax has been telling them all kinds of lies, subjecting them to piss-poor training exercises. But here's what they do understand— Paplatine, Vader, Snoke, me… we all used Force power to dominate and kill things, including their homes and their families. They're refugees. The First Order displaced them, took away everything they loved. _Rey…_ " He lets out a long breath and buries his face in a palm.

"I…" he starts but can't seem to finish. He drags his hand down then looks out into nothing. "There are a couple of them..." he begins again but still can't complete the sentence. Instead, his shoulders drop. Rey feels the emotion weighing down on him as if it were her own.

Guilt.

It knocks the breath out of her, a punch in the gut followed by nauseating sensation, a heaviness that's somehow sickening.

"There are a couple of them whose families I killed with my own hand." He finally says the words. They seem to land like a bomb exploding in the center of the room.

"Including Zax. The Interloper."

Rey sits up straight, eyes wide with shock.

"I killed his younger brother." Ben's tone is dispassionate but she feels everything he's feeling as he speaks. He's being torn apart. By guilt. Regret. Shame. Grief.

"The thing is…" now his voice begins to fill with emotion. "I remember it. _I actually remember it._ I remember rounding the barricade, I remember approaching him… he was so small. A child. Not much older than Jian. I remember hesitating." His eyes are pained, distant… then suddenly he scoffs, leaning back in the chair and shaking his head in disbelief.

"I was so _determined_ to prove I was detached entirely from sentiment, that I was beyond all feelings of compassion and longing and regret. _I was a fool_." He spits out the last words, then runs a hand through his hair. "I think about it. I think about it all the time. How many people and places did I destroy to prove something to Snoke, to myself? It was all just a means to an end. And I believed in the end with _such conviction_. It seemed to justify everything I was doing to get there." He shakes his head again, closing his eyes for a moment.

Suddenly, he leans forward, propping his elbows on his knees. He gazes angrily into the corner of the room as though he were staring down his worst enemy.

"I think about the way I was then… so zealous, so petulant, so _entrenched_ in ideology, so _absolutely certain_ that I was acting for the good of the galaxy…" His voice trails off, eyes softening. "Really… how different was I from the way Zax is now?" He lets the question linger in the air a few moments. "Not very. Hardly at all."

Rey listens, still sitting cross-legged on the bed, taking in everything Ben has told her. All the anger in her is gone, washed away completely. She understands now. She understands why Ben didn't answer her when she reached out to him. She understands why he needed to process.

What's happening to him right now… it's his reckoning. And truth be told, it's long overdue. Rey loves Ben. She loves him very much. But this pain he's feeling now is something he must go through. He needs this. He needs to be confronted with the consequences of his past in a way that feels personal. And he needs an opportunity… an opportunity to try to make up for what he did.

"I owe you an apology." Ben's voice interrupts her thoughts. She looks up at him, surprised. "Since the funeral… since I learned about the Knights… I've blamed all of this on you. The Interloper. His terrorizing the Senate. Don't get me wrong." He glances over at her. "You _are_ responsible for what's happened." He looks away. "But so am I." His eyes are dark, intense yet faraway at the same time.

"If I'd never come to his home with the First Order…" His voice sounds distant. "If I'd never destroyed his village, killed everyone he ever knew or loved, slaughtered his brother before his eyes… where would Zax be now? Would he still be with his family? Would he be at one of your schools?" He shakes his head. "I don't know. We'll never know. Because I did destroy his home. I left him stranded and hurt and utterly alone. I left wounds to fester in his mind, to twist him into—" Ben stiffens, stopping himself abruptly.

 _A monster_ , Rey finishes inwardly.

He casts his eyes downward, twitching his jaw, as if he heard her. "I traumatized him, drove him to insanity… and you endowed him with power that makes him feel like a god." He looks up to the ceiling for a moment, then turns to give Rey a foreboding look. "Trust me when I tell you," he leans forward, eyes boring into hers. "That's a terrifying combination."

Rey's stomach drops at the way he intones this warning. She tries to maintain her gaze but it's hard when she's struggling to breath evenly. She uncrosses her legs and hangs them over the bed looking down.

Now she needs to process… but it doesn't take long before questions begin to filter into mind, swimming urgently.

But where to start?

"You said…" she begins tentatively, trying to decide which question to ask first. "The Interloper… Zax. You said he's been telling the Knights lies. About what? What do you mean?"

Ben grunts. "Well, first of all, he has a very different agenda than the Knights, though they're completely unaware of that. You were partially right about them being under his thrall. He manipulates them whenever it suits him. They disagree with him? He forces agreement. They find out something he doesn't want them to know? He erases it. He even plants ideas in their minds… ideas he knows will be problematic if he suggests them."

"Like killing the senators?" Rey leans in eagerly.

" _No_." Ben answers emphatically. "Rey, they're under his thrall, but they're not puppets. The big decisions, the ones that matter… they make those by themselves. He selected them _because_ they all fear the Force. They're all terrified of another First Order, another Kylo Ren. And those who are Force-sensitive worry what it will do to them."

Rey looks down, bringing a hand to her temple as if she's nursing a headache. Then she sighs and rests a thumb to her lips, thinking.

"How many are Force-sensitive?" She asks, looking back over at Ben.

"Five of them are, four of them aren't," Ben replies. "Those who are haven't developed their abilities much. Zax claims to be teaching them, but it's mostly smoke and mirrors. He doesn't really have the slightest interest in training them. And they're reluctant to learn in the first place."

"So…" Rey tilts her head in confusion, "What's Zax's agenda in all this? What's he after?"

Ben visibly stiffens, still leaning forward with his elbows propped on his knees.

"I'm not…" he begins cautiously, "I'm not sure. It's not exactly easy to get into his head." He lets out a puff of air and sits back in his seat, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows. "His mental defenses are _very_ advanced. Like nothing I've ever seen. I've only been able to enter his mind once and that was just because I caught him off guard. But what little I saw was disturbing." His voice sounds ominous.

"What did you see?" Rey asks insistently.

"Death," Ben answers immediately. "A lot of death. The Knights, they just want Force-sensitives to remain untrained, unable to wield their power. But Zax?" He shakes his head, eyes darkening. "Based on what I saw… he wants to eliminate them."

" _What!?_ " Rey leaps up without thinking, a mixture of panic and anger in her voice. "Like a genocide?"

"I am not _certain_ of this," he reminds her with warning in his voice. "The only thing I am certain of is that he believes in some sort of 'Elect.'" Rey knits her eyebrows, uncertain.

"He thinks a select few, like himself, should be able to channel the power of the Force. But for everyone else…" he lets his voice trail off.

Rey retakes her seat on the bed slowly, eyes swimming with worry. She begins to rub her hands together anxiously, thinking about her schools… the galaxy's new Force-sensitives all concentrated together in three specific places… they're all targets.

"Tell me where he is." Rey's head snaps up to Ben. "I've already organized a team to hunt him down. We leave tomorrow. Tell me where he is and we'll go straight there and help you take him down."

"That's a fool's errand, Rey," Ben replies without skipping a beat. "If you do that, your team will die, possibly you along with them. You think your schools are vulnerable now? Imagine if they didn't have you to protect them."

"How are you so certain this is a fight we can't win?"

" _Rey_ ," Ben's voice grows deeper and more resonant. "I've seen this man bring an entire room to its knees. He can project a shrill ringing in people's minds, paralyze them, confuse them, alter their perception of what's around them. And he can do this to multiple people at once. _Easily_. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he could do it to a larger group, an entire city possibly. And he can take over a person's mind entirely. Didn't you ever wonder how _one_ Knight was able to capture me by himself? It wasn't him, it was Zax inhabiting him. He knocked the entire room unconscious before we any of us could react."

Rey leans forward on the bed, letting go a sigh that comes out as a groan. This is what she's been afraid of… a part of her knew it all along, but couldn't admit it.

"He's too powerful, Rey." Ben shakes his head decisively. "If you and I both fought him together, there's a chance we could survive. _A chance_. But victory?" His lips purse wryly. "I know I'm no match for him. I don't think you are either."

Rey grits her teeth in frustration.

"What about the Knights?" She asks.

"What about them?"

"So far, Zax has been working primarily through them. If they knew what he was really up to… do you think they'd turn on him?"

" _Absolutely not!_ "

Rey jumps a little as Ben shouts this.

"I mean…" he begins in a more even tone, "I think they'd disapprove of his true intentions. But remember Solomon?" Rey doesn't recognize the name…

"The prisoner," he clarifies and her head jerks back, realizing what he's getting at. "I think if any of them try to turn on him or attack him, they'll end up just like that man. And, even if that weren't the case, it wouldn't take long for him to see what they were up to. Trust me. Being around Zax these past few days has been like walking through a minefield, and I've lived my whole life hiding things from people who can read my mind. They don't stand a chance."

Rey's shoulders drop, a sense of defeat beginning to creep in. The room falls quiet for a minute as both of them take in everything that's been said. Suddenly, she remembers something and looks up.

"I heard from Aradia today," she tells Ben. His head snaps towards her expectantly. "She's making progress with the pri— Solomon?" Ben nods. "She said she's confident she can undo the damage and keep his mind intact."

"That's _extremely_ good news." Ben sits back, cupping his chin with his thumb and index finger, nodding thoughtfully. "If the Knights, by some miracle, can make it out of this alive, they're going to need her." Suddenly, Ben narrows his eyes and cocks his head, considering something. He brings his hand down.

"Rey?"

"What?" She asks cautiously.

"You told the Senate that Aradia is just as powerful as Zax, if not more so, did you not?" His eyes fix on hers. She looks down.

"I did."

"So…" He shakes his head as if what comes next is self-evident. "Is she not our best chance against Zax?" Rey sighs and looks up at the ceiling.

"She would be."

" _Would be?_ " He raises his voice.

Rey sighs. "She doesn't believe in violence, Ben. Of any kind. 'Do no harm.' That's the bedrock of her school. She'll defend, but she won't attack."

"That sounds like Jedi bullshit." Ben cuts into her with snarking contempt. "I thought your precious _New Age_ was all about exploring the Force beyond the Jedi-Sith binary." He says this in a mocking tone.

" _It is_ ," she replies forcefully, leaning forward. "That's Aradia's school. It's her gifts she's teaching. She's the one who calls the shots. But that's _her_ school. It's not the only one. You haven't seen Kran's school. You haven't seen mine. And clearly, my school isn't driven by a philosophy of passivity. That's the whole point of the New Age, Ben. For there to be many ways to understand how to use the Force, not just one."

Ben's eyes narrow with a hint of suspicion.

"So tell me— how is your school is different from the Jedi?" Rey flinches, a bit surprised by his sudden curiosity. She takes a moment to process the question.

"Well…" she begins slowly. "There are a lot of differences. But the main one is that..." Rey hesitates. "We use the Force differently."

Ben's eyes darken instantly.

"What do you mean?" He asks, dubious.

"I mean… I mean that the Jedi were very… _selective_ in how they channeled Force power."

Ben waits for a few seconds and then raises an eyebrow as if to say "continue."

"The Jedi drew from the Force through emotions like peace, serenity, calm… I teach my students this… but not only this."

"What else?" His voice grows increasingly wary.

For a split second, Rey rolls her eyes. Then she collects herself with a breath.

"The students who come here all have one thing in common," she begins. "They were abandoned. Or abducted. Either way, they all grew up without families. Many of them were in situations where they were treated like property. Most of them _were_ property. And they were subject to all kinds of things… terrible things. Things that would make your stomach turn. Things that would make you very angry…" Rey pauses for a moment. "The Force-sensitives here… they all have a lot of anger inside them. Anger that's rooted deep in their experiences, so deep it's become a part of who they are. I don't try to teach them to suppress it because that would be asking something unrealistic. Instead… I teach them to channel it."

" _Rey!_ " Ben's eyes fly wide open. "You are _certainly_ joking, right?" This sounds less like a question and more of an admonishment. "You do not have _the slightest_ notion of what you are doing, of where this will lead— "

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering," Rey recites the words in an almost robotic tone. "That's the path to the Dark Side you're referring to, no? Look who's spouting Jedi bullshit now?"

Ben squints, annoyed but silenced by this, at least for the moment.

"Ben, let me ask you something." Rey resituates to sit cross-legged on the bed. "I want you to think back for a minute. Think back to your time with the First Order. Think back to a time when you lost your temper, destroyed something in anger. Surely it can't be that hard to think of a specific instance."

He looks away from her, rolling his eyes slightly. Rey sits silently, patiently, for a minute.

"Now," she breaks the silence, "Think back to how you felt on the day of your mother's funeral, when the New Knights attacked, when you thought your past was coming back to life. You felt angry, didn't you?" Ben doesn't respond. He still looks straight ahead, thinking.

"The anger you felt then… was that the same anger you felt with the First Order? Or was it different?" Ben still doesn't respond, but Rey can feel him struggling, grappling with what she's asking him to see.

"It wasn't," Rey answers for him. "It wasn't because anger isn't a monolith. There isn't just one kind of anger. Emotions are more complex than that. It's true, some emotions are very clearly good or bad, but most of them aren't that simple. Like anger. The anger you felt with the First Order— that was a destructive, petulant anger. But the anger you felt at the funeral? That was a righteous anger. It's the same kind of anger I felt after you stole the Jedi texts from me. It's the anger Leia felt after you went rogue with Poe and wiped out the rest of the First Order. It's the anger my students feel when they think back on how the masters treated them and other slaves. Ben, that kind of anger can be _a good thing_. It motivates people to act when they would otherwise just observe. The Jedi never understood that."

Ben's not looking at her. He's sitting back in the chair, arms crossed, eyes lost in a deep, meditative gaze.

Rey sits up. "Ben, listen. I know you don't think much of your uncle, and I understand that. But he did teach me something very valuable. The Jedi don't own the Force. They never did. That doesn't mean their way of understanding the Force is wrong. It just means it's not the only way. The Jedi and Sith tore the galaxy apart for centuries in defense of their way of the Force as the "right" way. It's time to grow beyond that." She brings a knee up and tucks a leg into her body, wrapping her forearm around her shin and leaning forward a bit. Her eyes are intense, almost pleading.

"Ben, this is why the Force brought us together, lead us to Mustafar. This was the whole point of releasing the power of the artifacts, increasing the number of Force-sensitives in this galaxy. More people using the Force means more chances to truly understand it, from many different perspectives. And look what's been happening." Her voice swells. "We're finding the Force can do things that neither the Jedi nor the Sith ever discovered. Things that can help us make changes in the galaxy, changes that _we_ _need_ for a shot at building an actual _lasting_ peace."

Ben blinks, deadpan. "Rey, there's a genocidal, Force-sensitive maniac at large as we speak. An unnervingly powerful one. As a direct result of what you did. Explain to me, how exactly does that change help the galaxy achieve a lasting peace?"

Rey takes in a frustrated breath and blows it out into the room, exasperated. She rests her chin on her knee for a moment, wrapping her arms around the leg propped in front of her. She gazes out towards the window, thinking. She can see one of Cantonica's moons lighting up the darkened skies. Suddenly, she sits up a bit, looking pointedly at Ben.

"Let's say…" she begins in a speculative tone, "that I took your hand when you offered it to me in the volcano, and together we destroyed the power of the artifacts, weakening the Force so no one could use it." She narrows her eyes, shifting her head slightly. "How long do you think that would have lasted?" Ben looks away.

Silence.

He shifts in the chair, angling away from her, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees again. He clasps his hands lightly in front of him.

More silence.

With his face turned, Rey can't quite see his expression. But she can sense his emotions. Two opposing forces at war, denial and resignation.

"I don't know," he answers finally. A few more moments pass.

"Do you think it would have lasted forever?" Rey's voice is even, solemn.

He bows his head, sighing. Another minute passes in silence.

"Ben…," she begins gently, "I think we both know that it wouldn't have lasted forever. It may have lasted for our lifetime. And our children's lifetime. And our grandchildren's. But eventually, centuries into the future, the Force would have steadily and patiently regained its former strength, continuing along its inevitable path. And when it did, there'd be another Anakin. Or another Ben Solo. Or another Zax. Only this time, he'd be born into a galaxy that didn't understand the Force at all. Is this situation really any better for achieving a lasting peace?" Rey leans towards Ben, but he's still looking down, looking away from her.

"The Force…" she continues, "it's part of this galaxy. It's part of who we are. This energy, this tension connecting us all… it's the reason we exist in the first place. You might be able to weaken it, but you'll never be able to destroy it. Not without destroying the universe too. And as long as it's here, it will continue to do what it does— stretch out, grow stronger, forever seeking balance in different forms. And there will always be people like you and me. People strong in the Force, sensitive to its power. If this is inevitable, isn't it better to learn about it than shun it entirely? Learn how to use it, how to manage its use, to find a way to balance its gifts with its dangers?" She feels Ben grow heavy as she asks these questions, her tone becoming more insistent, more earnest. She stops, sitting back, relaxing her shoulders, letting the room grow quiet.

Her breathing is deep and even. She feels calm even as Ben's emotions storm through her. He's working through what she's said, testing it, probing it, searching for ways around it. He clenches a fist, still leaning forward in the chair.

"Ben, would you do something for me?" Rey asks the question suddenly. Finally, he sits up and looks over at her.

"Will you…" she hesitates, looking down momentarily. "Will you come into my mind, my point of view? Just for a few minutes?"

Ben grimaces, half-annoyed at the suggestion. "This is no time for games, Rey."

"This isn't a game," she replies. "I need you to feel something." Her voice is insistent. "It won't take long. Just long enough for me to go over and check on the girls while they sleep. And that will give you a chance to see them." His eyes soften a bit. He twitches his jaw, considering.

" _Come on_." Her eyes plead with him. He looks down for a moment. Then he gets up and walks over to her, sitting down on the bed, turning inward.

They both sit still, looking at one another for a minute. They feel exhausted, emotionally and physically. Their eyes are a bit guarded, uncertain.

"Do you remember how to do this?" she asks him.

"I remember." He sounds reluctant.

"I know it's hard," she answers softly. She closes her eyes and straightens her posture, resting her hands lightly on her knees. She focuses on clearing her mind, breathing evenly, feeling calm. This will make it easier for him.

She sits still, feeling the tension of the bond between them. He's struggling to let go…

They both know what she's up to. When he enters her mind, her point of view, he'll sense her enhanced connection to the Force. And if Rey pulls him in deeply enough… he'll be able to feel her ability to read it, to experience its intentions. She can feel that this idea scares him, though she's not sure why.

Rey bows her head, reaching into herself, searching for something… the right memory… the right emotion. Ah. Of course. She lets herself descend into the recesses of her mind. It's dark. It's cold and damp. She's wrapped in a rough-hewn blanket, hair still wet from falling into the cave. She's reaching a hand tentatively over the flickering of the fire pit in front of her, reaching for him… they've never tried to touch through the bond before. They're both nervous yet they can't resist the magnetic energy that seems to draw them nearer to one another… a Force that neither of them understand…

Rey jerks back and breathes in deeply. She feels a second presence, a second consciousness, enter her mind. A passive observer. She would say the sensation feels unwelcome but, technically, she did invite him. She just forgot how strange this feels…

Rey gets up, eyes still closed, and walks towards the door. They haven't done this in a while. She needs to take it slow. She presses the panel and the door whirs open. She walks out into the crisp night air. Finally, she opens her eyes slowly.

She looks up into the sky, a trio of moons cascading down to the sea, the moonlight glistening against the rippling water.

She takes in the scene before her, trying to breath evenly, keep her mind clear for the moment. She feels so exposed… it's not just that he can see through her eyes. He's in her perspective, the way she feels and thinks. He's in her spirit. But this is the reason why she asked him to do this… and she can't waste any time.

So, she just begins to think. She begins to think as she turns and walks towards the door to Clea and the girls' quarters.

She thinks about the first time she entered Ben's mind, his perspective. It was a moment of revelation for her… He'd mentioned a couple of times about the effects of channeling the dark side, how it corroded the spirit. But it's the kind of thing one can't understand until they feel it for themselves…

The door whirs open and Rey enters the main room, pitch black. She walks forward, easily sensing her way through the darkness.

After that, she better understood why he feels the way he does about the Force. It is dangerous. It's not just that it can be used to cause great harm to others. It can inflict unimaginable harm on the person using it.

She presses a panel and the door to the girls' room opens. She steps in, the space dimly lit by two soft lights glowing on either end of the ceiling. The girls are buried under several blankets just ahead. Neither of them stir as Rey moves quietly towards them.

Yes, the Force is capable of being used for great evil. But it can also be used for great good. Case in point…

Rey stops next to the bed, looking down at Irenie. The girl's turned on her side, eyes closed, face serene and peaceful.

The Force can be used to give young ones like Irenie the chance at a full night of sleep, a chance to reset their lives and move on from terrors that they never should have experienced in the first place.

Rey leans down to give the girl a soft kiss on the forehead. She stands and begins making her way to the other side of the bed.

The Force can be used to remake planets like Jakku, creating bounty where once there was nothing.

She stops next to Soya, curled in a ball with her knees in her chest, her hair messily flung over her face. Rey reaches out to brush a few strands back before leaning down to kiss her cheek. She stirs slightly.

Becoming sensitive to the Force… aware of its presence all around her, connecting her to the whole galaxy. This was the moment her life started to mean something. It gave her a purpose. A destiny.

Rey feels that pull deep inside her… the roots reaching ever further, drawing her into that other-worldly perception, that language of the Force, something so ancient and so visceral it defies understanding. But she doesn't need to fully understand it… she just needs to feel it. And she needs him to feel it too.

"Rey…" Irenie's voice, muffled, jerks her from her thoughts. She crosses the room to her side of the bed.

The girl wipes her eyes and turns on her back, looking up bleary eyed. "What are you doing here? Did you find dad already?"

Instantly, Rey feels her heart twist with a mixture of pain, love, and longing. She feels the emotions like they're hers, but they're not. It's Ben… hearing Irenie call him Dad.

"No, we haven't left yet. I just wanted to kiss you both goodbye." She reaches out to stroke the girl's forehead. She still feels Ben's emotions stirring inside her, bubbling over, blending with her own.

"That's nice." The girl gives Rey a sleepy half smile then rolls over. Rey turns and heads for the door. It whirs open and she steps through, making her way through the darkness again.

She thinks about what she told Irenie earlier in the evening… that she would be calling Ben dad by the end of the week. She thinks about what she told her about faith, about what it means to think with your heart instead of your head. Then Rey reaches deep inside herself and surrenders completely to that warm, calm certainty that fills her with the knowledge that this will all be over soon… Zax, the Interloper… his Knights… the Senate's fever pitch of panic… This New Age teetering on the edge of a knife… resolution is coming. A part of her fears it. But the stronger part has faith that the Force did not lead her all the way here, to this moment, to destroy everything she's worked so hard to build. She's here now because she's destined to be here. And so is Ben. Because this isn't just her destiny. It's theirs. They are the tools through which the Force is working to create balance in the galaxy. Two minds that appear to be opposed… but upon a closer look, are perfect complements.

Rey walks back out into the night, a cool breeze tickling her skin. As the door closes behind her, she squeezes her eyes shut, standing perfectly still.

 _Can't you feel that, Ben? Can't you feel your destiny? Our destiny?_

She loses herself in her connection to the Force, dipping down beneath her human consciousness and bringing Ben with her. She becomes one with a perception that defies all logic. And she meditates there as time melts away. There are no longer the familiar trappings of a mortal mind. It's an expansive state, infinite. A contradiction, at once constantly in motion and forever still. There is a serenity here, a serenity of the eternal. The quiet certainty that long ago in a galaxy far, far away… and right now… and in a future that's too distant to conceive of… there will always be this. An everlasting Force. A Force that binds the galaxy together. A Force that resides quietly in the beings who inhabit it.

Rey opens her eyes slowly, taking in the scene of night sky once more. Then she turns and walks back to the door of her own quarters, pressing the panel to open it. As she enters the room, she feels Ben's consciousness slowly lift out of her mind, her spirit… her eyes are her own again. Her thoughts private.

He's still sitting on the bed, his back turned slightly to her. She leans against the door, giving him some time to recover.

This mind merging ability… it's intense enough on its own. But she's never done what she just did a moment ago, descending deep into her connection with the Force while he was with her. She's had three years since Mustafar to adjust to the sensation. For him, it was undoubtedly an experience he was entirely unprepared for.

She waits patiently, feeling calm at first. But then several minutes pass and he still sits unmoving. She begins to grow uneasy. Perhaps she went too far…?

Rey bites her lip, anxious. She starts to consider it… she knows she shouldn't, but it's so tempting and she's getting increasingly impatient…

She reaches out to into his mind.

A second later, he stands abruptly, glancing over at her with annoyance. She looks away sheepishly, and he walks towards the window. He crosses his arms and gazes out over the ocean. Rey moves to the bed and takes a seat, looking at him tentatively.

They stay like this for a minute.

"I think I know what we need to do." Ben's deep voice finally breaks the silence. His back is still to her.

"About the Interloper?"

"Yes," he confirms.

"I'm listening." Her tone is open, expectant.

Ben stands quietly for a moment, arms still crossed and feet firmly planted.

"Zax asked me to do something for him… a favor. A show of loyalty to him." He turns to face her, arms still crossed, eyes determined. "I think I should do it."

Rey catches her breath. She seems to have lost it for a moment.

"What did he ask you to do?" She can't disguise the fear in her voice. Ben breaks his cool gaze, looking down for a second before looking up with reservation.

"You're not going to like it, Rey." The look he gives her makes her stomach turn slightly. "You're _really_ not going to like it."

"That's… comforting." Rey gulps. "So, what is it?" She leans towards him with eager eyes.

Ben blinks. "I think it's better if you don't know." Her eyebrows furrow as she tilts her head in disbelief.

"What… why do you say that?" She tries to sound calm but her tone is tense.

"Because if you know, you'll keep me from doing it," he replies matter-of-factly.

Rey's eyes widen. "Are you _kidding me_? Why would I possibly agree to that?"

Ben cocks his head and raises an eyebrow in a way that seems half-patronizing.

"Because you trust me. Because you have _faith_ in me…"

Her jaw hardens a bit, bruised by the hint of mocking she detects in his tone.

"Ben— "

"Rey," he interrupts her. "Is what I'm asking you right now really that different from what you asked me to do that day in the volcano?"

" _Ben!_ " She sounds exasperated. "You were _dying_. I didn't exactly have time to explain things to you."

"Yes…" he drags out the word with a doubtful tenor, "But really, Rey? Wasn't that just a convenience? Be honest with yourself. You knew that if you told me what you were planning to do that I wouldn't agree to it. So, you asked me to have faith in you, and I did. Now it's time for _you_ to have faith in _me_." He steps forward, eyes intent on hers.

Rey stands and takes a step towards him, returning his gaze deeply. There's something about him that seems different… there's a calmness in him. A certainty. She hasn't felt this kind of cool, calculated resolve in him in quite some time.

Rey takes in a breath, her stomach churning. She'd love nothing more than to read his mind, to see what he has planned… she pushes into his thoughts almost without meaning to.

"Rey!" He protests immediately, jaw hardening. " _No_. You either have faith in me, or you don't. Which one is it?"

She sighs, crossing her arms, a resigned expression registering on her face.

"Ok," she assents softly, nodding her head a bit. Ben nods back, letting out a breath.

"What do you need me to do?" she asks him.

"Cancel your mission tomorrow," he commands. "Keep your students here, but go yourself to Takodana. Get Aradia and Solomon and bring them back here. Then wait until my signal."

"What signal?"

"I'll reach out to you through the bond," he tells her.

"If you're lucky, I'll respond." She says this a bit cheekily.

He grunts, then steps towards her. His expression softens as he stops right in front of her, looking down at her with an unmistakable emotion beginning to surface in his dark, black eyes. She feels it too, a warmth rising from within.

Tethered together through the bond, they feel it almost as one sensation… the love that draws them to one another despite all the things that pull them apart.

Ben brings a hand up and touches Rey's cheek gently with the back of his fingers, letting it linger then slide down deliberately to the curve of her jaw. She looks up at the handsome angles of his face, the scar she gave him still cutting across left cheek. His fingers stop under her chin, pushing to tilt her face slightly upwards.

"I think you're right." His voice is deep and resonant. His eyes are calm with purpose. "All of this... it's almost over."

Her heart swells at these words, an excitement competing with an uneasiness in her belly. He begins to lean down as though he's about to kiss her but stops just in front of her face. A flash of something— regret, maybe?— crosses his eyes briefly before he drops his hand and takes a step back.

He continues to look down at her, his expression growing more solemn.

"You'll hear from me soon," he says the words quietly. Not a moment later, he vanishes.

Rey stands alone in the center of the room. She'd like to move but she can't seem to command her limbs. Her mind slowly shakes itself free of its numbness and she begins to process what she's feeling… a very dissonant combination of emotions. Something in her feels satisfied, validated in a way she hasn't felt before. Ben… she got to him tonight. _Really_ got to him. A part of her feels confident she can interpret what happened as a sure sign that he's finally accepted it— their destiny together. And yet another part of her aches with a vaguely formed dread…

Rey turns, finally, and walks over to sink down on the bed. She brings her legs up on the mattress and moves to her side, curling towards the wall. She reaches out to turn off the lights in the room.

Blackness.

Rey lies still, listening to the sound of her breath, even and steady.

Why is she feeling this way? Why can she not banish this ominous shadow in her mind?

There's the fact that Ben is about to do something she will disapprove of. He was very clear on that point. But no… that's not really not at the root of it. There's something else…

It's what she saw when she read his mind just after she drew him into her connection to the Force. It was just a flash of an image… but it was startlingly familiar. She's seen it before. When she first touched Luke's lightsaber on Takodana…

Black-robed figures in masks. In the center, Kylo Ren wielding his unstable red, lightsaber, bursts of fire jutting out on either side of the hilt. But it wasn't raining… it was dry and dark, the ground flat with gritty sand, not wet and rocky. And there were more than six Knights…

Rey shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

It could mean any number of things. That's the danger of reading someone's mind, interrupting their thoughts. You don't get any context, so it's easy to misinterpret what you read. The image was probably just a random flash, a tertiary relevance to his main line of thinking.

But Rey still feels that gnawing… that dread. It keeps her up all night, tossing and turning, falling in and out of shallow fits of sleep that are brief and unsatisfying. The hours seem to drag by endlessly… an eternity before the first rays of sunlight begin to trickle in through the window.

Rey gets out of bed in a strange half-awake state, feeling alert yet dazed and exhausted. She changes her clothes quickly and exits onto the deck, heading straight to Finn's quarters.

Everyone will be getting up soon to meet at the transporter. She needs to tell them there's been a change in plans…

She rounds the corner of the deck to the west side of the school. She sees something moving towards her in the distance… it's moving quickly…

It's Finn. She feels a surge of urgency from him wash over her as he gets nearer. She begins to pick up her pace walking towards him.

"Is Jian with you?!" He calls out, frantic, running towards her.

"No," she calls back as she runs to meet him.

"I'm going to _kill_ him!" Finn declares angrily, stopping just in front of Rey.

"Finn, he probably just snuck out with Irenie again," she assures him. "Those two have been thick as thieves since Takodana."

"No." Finn shakes his head definitively, moving past Rey to walk swiftly towards the south end of the school. She turns to follow him. "He's dead serious about this mission. He wouldn't sneak out on the morning we're set to leave."

"Then he's probably already at the transport waiting for us," Rey responds, a bit amused.

"Yeah… maybe you're right." Finn agrees absently, charging ahead.

"Listen, Finn, we have to talk after you find Jian. Meet me in the courtyard, ok?" Finn nods his head without looking at her, picking up his pace into a jog. Rey stops following and turns back around, walking the opposite direction. She needs to catch the team and tell them to head to the courtyard as well.

She doesn't make it two steps before she halts, frozen.

The realization hits her… and her heart drops into her gut.

She whips back around and races towards Finn.

"Hey!" she calls out to him, running at full speed. She barely stops herself from ramming into him as she brakes just in front of him.

He looks at her, impatient and expectant.

"I think I know where Jian is." She says the words so quickly, they come out as one jumble.

"What?" Finn's face scrunches in confusion. Rey takes a breath.

"I know where Jian is," she says more calmly.

Finn's head shifts, a bit baffled.

"I thought you said you hadn't seen him?"

Rey gulps, struggling to maintain eye contact with Finn.

"I haven't. But I think…" she starts hesitantly. "I think he's with Ben."

Now Finn really looks confused.

" _What?_ "

Rey nods her head, that gnawing in her stomach quickly growing into something more frantic.

"Don't ask me how I know but… I know. Jian's with Ben."

Rey pauses for a moment.

"And the Interloper."


	19. Chapter 18: Legacy

Chapter 7: Legacy

The ship rocks violently, up and down, side to side, as high-speed winds roar turbulently around it.

Ben navigates cautiously, descending at a slow, methodical pace. He can't see anything in front of him except for whirling grey wind and the occasional flash of electricity. He has to rely on the radar system, tracking the best path to the base.

Of course, Zax would choose to hole up in an uninhabitable planet like this one. It's brilliant, really. Rey never would have found him. Who in the galaxy would expect a living thing to even attempt surviving here? It's a giant orb of gas. No land. No bodies of water. But what's worse is the atmosphere. It's toxic and locked in an interminable storm with winds so powerful they would rip most man-made objects to shreds.

But the floating structure on this planet was not made by humans. It was constructed by the Chiss, one of the most reclusive and technologically advanced civilizations in the galaxy. Apparently, this particular base was commissioned by Jer'ah's father as a hideaway should he ever need to flee and take his family with him to safely. Unfortunately, Snoke's betrayal of the man was too swift to give him that opportunity.

Suddenly, the engine cuts out and the ship drops. Ben acts without hesitation, quickly rerouting power to the secondary engine. Then he turns to look behind him.

Despite the roar of the atmosphere, Jian is still out cold. Ben strapped him on his back to a lounge seat. He looks almost angelic, his chubby-cheeked face serene as if lost in a peaceful slumber. But he's not really sleeping, at least not organically. Ben knocked him out the moment they boarded the ship on Cantonica.

He looks back in front of him, resuming his slow crawl to the base.

He's close. Not five minutes out. He'll be landing soon. Which means soon he'll present Jian to Zax and the Knights. Which means soon all of this will be over… _Today_. Maybe within the next hour.

Ben hasn't felt this certain of anything in quite a while. It feels good. It feels better than good. It feels like finding himself for the first time.

He grunts.

Part of him can't believe he's fallen back into this lunacy. _The Force_ as anything more than a cold, apathetic energy, an energy that allows itself to be harnessed and used indiscriminately. Over the years, he's grown increasingly contemptuous of the idea of the Force as any sort of intelligence or guide, a conduit to one's destiny.

But he can't deny what he experienced in Rey's mind when she pulled him into her connection with the Force. A map of the future, of sorts.

"Map" is the wrong word. It implies a clarity that's not at all like what he experienced. It can be difficult to read these things. After all, he's seen the future through the Force before and found that reality turned out quite differently than he'd expected.

But something about this was different. This wasn't touching Rey's hand on Achc-To. This wasn't like peering through a window as a passive observer. It was like being in a different mind, a mind that sees time all at once. This mind communicated to him, through sensation more than sight, a sequence of events as they _could_ unfold should he choose to set them in motion.

And if he does, the result would give him something he didn't realize he wanted, but now that the opportunity's presented itself, is something he aches for…

A chance to reclaim his legacy. To remake it.

The thought makes him nervous, afraid even. But it also fills him with a sense of purpose. This is it. This is his chance. A way to pick up the broken shards of his past and build something he can be proud of. This future… it's within his power to bring it to being.

He knows what he has to do.

Zax asked for Jian. Now he's about to get him. And he's too arrogant to see that that this boy will be his undoing.

Ben lets out a soft scoff, shaking his head in amazement, thinking back to last night.

After he left Rey, he waited several hours before sneaking into the academy to find Jian. She was _so angry_ when she found out he'd been ignoring her attempts to reach out to him through the bond. He can only imagine how angry she is now knowing that he was physically on Cantonica during their entire conversation. And that he took Jian with him when he left.

But soon she'll see that this was the only way. Not just the only way to defeat Zax, but the only way for her to get what she so desperately wants— him, leading next to her in the New Age.

Because if it's true, what Ben sensed about this boy in Rey's mind… it changes things. It changes how he feels about Mustafar. It changes how he feels about the New Age. It changes his fear that a galaxy with more Force-sensitives will inevitably bring ruin upon them all.

 _If it's true_ …

And he believes it is. He wouldn't have brought Jian here otherwise. He was certain of it after what he felt in Rey's mind. But that certainty deepened into utter conviction when he crept into the school in the dark of the night… and found that Jian was waiting for him. _Waiting for him_.

Ben had never stepped foot on the academy grounds. He hadn't the slightest clue where Jian was. He walked the deck, hooded and silent, reaching out with his Force senses, searching for him…

Then he rounded a corner and there it was— a speck in the distance, a small black dot at the base of door. Could it be…? Ben dismissed he thought as soon as it crossed his mind. Too much of a coincidence. More likely it was some other child, a student out at night when he should be in bed. But as Ben got closer, he realized his first instinct was right.

It was Jian.

The boy was sitting on the deck, knees curled into his chest, propped against the wall. He didn't look at all surprised when he saw Ben's shadowy form approaching. He didn't look surprised when Ben knelt before him, pulling back his hood to reveal his face. The boy simply stared at him with a mixture of dread and determination.

Ben stared back at him silently for a few moments.

"Do you know why I'm here?" He intoned quietly.

Jian gulped, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Because I'm the only one who can stop the Interloper?" He answered as though he were asking a question.

Ben nodded solemnly in response. Then he extended his hand towards him… and Jian took it immediately.

He'll give the boy this much— he is very brave. He's scared, but he's brave. It's ok that he's afraid. He needs to be. What he has to do… what he has to discover about himself… it's the kind of thing one can only find in the moment, in the midst of the cold, pumping adrenaline of fear, the very real threat of death.

Ben didn't tell him much. It's better that he knows as little as possible. He just warned Jian that Zax would try to get into his mind, shape his thoughts, and that his touch would be imperceptible unless he was on guard. He needs to keep him from getting too deep into his head. Jian gulped at hearing this.

"Won't that be hard?" He asked with one eye slightly squinted.

" _Yes_." Ben's emphatic answer was matched with an intense gaze.

Jian gulped again but nodded his readiness with wide eyes.

"And what else should I do?" He asked eagerly.

Ben leaned in close to the boy with a glint in his eye. "You know how you're always _accidentally_ reading people's minds? Do that with Zax. Spill his secrets. Expose him for who he is."

Jian breathed deeply and nodded again. "Then what?"

Ben backed away, looking briefly down and then up. "You'll know." He said curtly. Then he knocked him out before he had time to react.

Yes, the boy is scared. Scared enough that Ben decided _not_ to tell him the reason why the Knights want him in the first place. He's terrified enough as it is. But he'll soon find out …

The ship lurches forward suddenly, nearly throwing him from the command chair. He grips the controls tightly. Then he sees it just ahead through the thick, gray winds. A light. Red and moving briskly from side to side.

They've arrived.

Ben moves the ship forward at a steady pace. As he nears the light, he sees the black, circular landing deck only visible through the aid of the red glow emanating from under it. A large gray panel opens slowly as the ship approaches.

Ben takes it slow. No need to rush. Now is the time when a pilot is most susceptible to making mistakes, when the destination is in sight. That's when he's most likely to let his guard down.

He maneuvers expertly into the opening on the side of the base, gradually letting off the engines until he is hovering several inches from the ground, the ship gliding easily into the port. The panel closes behind him, sealing the room from the atmosphere. Ben lowers the ship to the ground.

The moment he touches down, a stream of white gas bursts from the four corners of the room, filling it with a detoxifying agent, making the air safe to breathe. When the thick, white vapor begins to thin, he sees the vague silhouette of a black-clad Knight leaning against the wall with crossed arms not far ahead. He quickly runs through the post-landing procedure and depowers the ship. He gets up and walks straight to Jian, kneeling before him.

Still out like a light.

Ben looks down at the boy, calm and still. He looks so small, so young, even younger than his age. So entirely unfit for what lies ahead.

Ben lingers for another moment before rising and turning to open the loading ramp. It descends with a loud mechanical hum. He begins to walk down it just as it touches the floor. The masked Knight leaning against the wall pushes up and walks towards him with a bit of a swagger. The figure stops just a foot in front of him, cocking its head.

Ben looks down, guarded, as the figure looks up at him for a few seconds without saying a word.

"Thanks a lot," the figure finally speaks, sarcasm clearly discernable even through the distortion of the mask. Ben tilts his head, uncertain.

"Thanks to you, I lost a bet," the voice continues. "I bet you wouldn't come back, seven to two."

The figure pauses a moment. "I was one of the two." At that, she brings her hands to either side of her head, clicking off her mask to reveal an unwieldy tangle of curls, some of it reddish brown, some of it purple, some of it pink, some of it a color he doesn't recognize. The human woman looks up at him with her cat eyes, lips twisted up into a sardonic half smile. Lohse is her name.

"Sorry, I doubted you," she says without a shred of contrition.

Ben shrugs. "You have no reason to trust me. If I were in your shoes, I'd have also been one of the two."

Lohse jaunts her head and raises her eyebrows. "It's not about trust. I don't trust anyone, not even Zax. It's about reality. And the reality is that the creatures in this galaxy are a deceitful lot who act on self-interest alone." She looks up to the ceiling for a moment, as if she's searching her mind for something. "I don't blame 'em, though," she declares dismissively, turning a heel to walk towards the door with a slight skip in her step. "It's just who we are," she continues as she presses a panel to open a door at the side of the port. She turns to face him again, mask tucked in the corner of her left arm.

"I'm meant to be the welcome crew," she says dryly. "Bring you and the kid to the others. So chop, chop. Let's go. I assume you do have the kid, right." Lohse lowers her head, a doubtful look flashing across her face.

Ben gazes back with a neutral expression, then turns to re-board the ship. Once he reaches Jian, he kneels next to him and unties the straps securing him to the seat. Next, he extends a hand over his head, concentrating. The boy awakens with a start. He sits up, looking frantically around, confused. Then his head snaps to Ben and recognition flashes across his face… he remembers where he is. What he's come to do. His eyes quickly grow solemn.

"Are you ready?" Ben asks, nodding towards him. Jian looks back at him, his face stricken white.

"Yeah," he answers a bit breathlessly, giving a wobbly nod back. Ben leans in a bit, eyes locked on Jian's in an intense gaze.

"From here on out, you need to be _on your guard_ ," he punctuates the last words. "Understand?"

Jian nods again, taking in a shallow breath. He's scared… bordering on terrified. Ben gives him a firm nod of encouragement, then rises and extends a hand towards the boy. Jian grips it like a lifeline.

They disembark the ship together, hand in hand. Lohse steps forward to regard them as they emerge. Her eyes seem to lighten with curiosity and darken with alarm all at the same time. As they approach, slowing to stop just in front of her, she studies Jian intently.

"He's…" she starts, almost blustering, "a lot younger than Zax said he was. You're not even close to fifteen. You can't be a day older than nine?"

"Eleven," Jian corrects her softly, fear subsiding just long enough for his ego to be a little bruised.

"Huh." Lohse steps back, still peering down at him with that same strange mixture of interest and concern. "Well…" she starts to say something but stops herself. She shakes her head quickly as if banishing the thought from her mind.

" _Come on_ ," she sighs impatiently, turning a heel to exit the port. "We're all waiting with bated breath." She strides forward without looking back to check if they're following. Ben pulls Jian forward into the hall, the boy still gripping his hand tightly. They begin after her, Ben moving swiftly, Jian dragging a bit beside him.

Ben watches Lohse as she charges ahead impatiently. She's an odd one. But she's nowhere near as nihilistic as she presents herself to be. It's just a front, a survivor's armor. The Knights of Ren destroyed the capital of her home world to gain possession of an ancient Sith artifact her people were protecting. She was a queensgaurd, one of the few who made it out of the city that day. Her queen didn't make it. She feels a tremendous amount of guilt for that.

Ben's had a chance to get to know the Knights over the past few days, Jer'ah most of all. The blue-skinned Chiss is the clear leader of the group, under Zax. But he's had time with the others as well, all except for Mouse, who doesn't talk to anyone but his brother, and Anh-Li, who still can't bring herself to look him in the eye, much less speak to him.

He doesn't blame her. He killed her parents. Looking at him reminds her of that loss. And looking at her reminds him that every mortal wound he inflicted lead to someone else's tragedy. So many…

A mixture of grief and guilt descends upon him. After he killed his father, Ben gradually came to accept the truth about the First Order, about what he'd been doing with them all those years. Wanton destruction, not for the sake of the galaxy but for the sake of absolute power. He accepted that he took lives without justification, caused so much pain for so many innocent people.

But until now… until meeting the Knights, being confronted with the consequences of his actions in _lived experience_ … He never really understood what he'd done. It's one thing to know, in an abstract sense, that he is responsible for a million tragedies— anonymous anguish that displaced people from their homes and robbed them of friends and family. It's another thing for those tragedies to have a name. Vikander. Ekemma. Ty. Lohse. Anh-Li.

Now that he's _seen_ it… talked to the people whose lives he destroyed, listened to their fears, felt their brokenness. He's ready to emerge from the shadows. No more hiding away on a nameless planet in the middle of nowhere, avoiding the consequences of his actions with the First Order, of Rey's actions on Mustafar… He must take the opportunity that's been presented to him now, an opportunity to do something _truly_ in the best interest of the galaxy. To defend. To protect.

And it starts with the Knights. He owes them a debt. An allegiance. He's resolved to protect them _at all costs_.

Ben's thoughts halt abruptly. He feels it… a subtle change in the atmosphere of his mind. He's no longer alone.

Immediately, he squeezes Jian's hand and looks down at him. The boy looks up, eyes wide with fear.

Good. He feels it too. Zax creeping out with his Force senses…

Ben breathes deeply, bringing himself into a mental state that is very familiar to him, one that was an almost daily necessity during his time with Snoke. It feels like splitting his mind in two, one a cold, calm front and the other a well-guarded secret, an underside where the truth lies.

He's spent a lifetime hiding things from people who can read his mind… Luke. Snoke. His Knights of Ren. Rey.

He's ready for this.

Ben glances down at Jian. He's starting to visibly tremble. He squeezes the boy's hand and Jian takes a deep breath, eyes fixed on the floor.

Lohse presses a panel to a door at the end of a long white hall and it whirs open. She continues inside, still not looking back. Ben feels Jian tighten his grip even more. The boy's nervousness is starting to escalate into sheer terror. Ben squeezes his hand again, wishing he could reach out to him, offer him some sort of comfort or encouragement.

But the boy's on his own now.

Ben pries his hand from Jian's and puts it to his back, forcibly guiding him through the door.

They enter a large room, dimly lit by a mixture of soft red and white light emanating from the edges of the ceiling. The space is practically empty, except for a couple of overturned holoboards to the left and a throng of chairs stacked in a messy pile at the end. Zax and the Knights are all seated there, Zax in the center, the Knights in a semi-circle around him. Ty and Mouse lurk in the shadows to the far right, Anh-Li sitting next to them, elbows propped on her knees, the only one looking down. Next to her is Vikander, crouched on top of a chair. Ekemma stands tall and alert just to the right of Zax, Jer'ah beside her along with Cad, a lean Zeltron man who looks like a reverse Chiss, bald with deep red skin and piercing blue eyes. Lohse strides over to take a seat near him.

A micro smile tweaks the corner of Zax's lips as they approach. He leans forward, clear blue eyes locked manically on Jian, his face quickly lightening into an ecstatic radiance. In an instant, he sits back and brings up his hands up in front of him to clap three times slowly.

"Well done, Kylo Ren." His voice is resonant, triumphant. "You have _truly_ demonstrated your loyalty."

The Knights look visibly uncomfortable. All of them are shifting, fidgeting nervously in some way. All except for Jer'ah.

Suddenly, Zax snaps his eyes from Jian up to Ben with a placid expression. "You are one of us now." His voice is light and airy. "Go on. Take your place." He flits a hand to the right a couple of times as he turns his face to regard Jian again with feverish interest, leaning forward.

Ben casts a glance down at the boy, who can't take his eyes off Zax in front of him. Then, he walks to the right, taking a place beside Lohse. He concentrates on maintaining a calm, cool front. He turns to face Jian in the center of the room just like the others.

The boy's trembling yet standing as tall as he can. He presses his arms straight into his side, maintaining Zax's penetrating gaze with wide eyes.

Zax continues to lean forward in his chair. The back edges begin to rise from the floor. It seems as though he will topple over at any moment.

" _You._ _Are._ _Special_." He punctuates each word breathlessly. He tilts his head to the right, enraptured. "Impenetrable." A smile teases the corner of his lips again. "Almost." He snaps back, the legs of his chair clattering to the floor. He slouches a bit, right arm bent, rubbing his thumb and index finger together next to his cheek, mouth twisting into a smirk.

Jian takes a deep measured breath, eyes still focused forward, scared but determined. Ben can't stop the thought from flashing across his mind. There's something about the way he looks right now that reminds him of Rey.

Zax is pressing into his mind. Ben can see that in Jian's face, in the way he's breathing and fighting so hard to maintain a neutral expression. But it appears that the boy is holding his own.

The Knights watch awkwardly, not entirely understanding what's happening. They know Zax is peering into Jian's mind. But they don't know that this is a kind of battle, one that neither of them seems to be winning at the moment.

Suddenly, Ekemma lets out a great, heavy sigh, crossing her arms.

"I'm just going to say it," she declares abruptly. "The boy is younger than we expected. _Much_ younger. We need to take it to a vote again. Raise your hand if this changes things for you."

For a moment, no one says or does anything. Zax simply sits back in his chair, arms crossed, looking downward for the first time since Jian entered the room. He has a smirk on his face. But there's an undertone of frustration in it.

"Well you already know what we think." Anh-Li shoots up from her chair, gesturing to Ty and Mouse as she paces forward. She whips around to face Ekemma. "I've been against this from _day one_."

"And you've been overruled," Jer'ah deep voice cuts into the air. "Several times." He looks down, palms clasped lightly in front of him. "This changes nothing for me," he announces in a quiet yet resonant tone. Anh-Li takes a deep, angry breath. A few seconds pass in silence.

"Or me." Cad looks up as he says this.

"Or me." Ekemma's contribution sounds more tentative.

A few more seconds of silence. Lohse rubs her hands together nervously next to Ben, looking intently at the floor.

"Or me." Zax says this as though he's not really paying attention.

Anh-Li grows increasingly angry and impatient, almost panicked. She takes wild breaths, looking over at Vikander to the left, then Lohse to the right, again and again. They both avoid eye contact. Vikander swallows slowly. Finally, he looks up.

"Anh…" he starts in a heavy voice.

Anh-Li immediately lets out a loud huff. "I can't _believe you_ ," she spits at him, turning around and walking a few more paces, shaking her head incredulously.

"Just one more." The Chiss man catches Vikander's gaze with piercing red eyes. "One more vote and we have a majority."

"No," Zax interrupts, sitting up suddenly. His head snaps to Ben. "Kylo Ren is one of his now. His vote counts too. We're ten once more. Which means we need six votes, not five." He sits back in his chair, crossing his arms and resuming his downward gaze.

The Chiss takes a deep breath of acknowledgement. Then he turns his head slowly to his left, first to Lohse, then to Ben. His gaze rests on Ben, Lohse still fixed on the ground. His red hot eyes seem paradoxically cold, calculating.

"You have proven…" he begins in a remarkably even tone, "that you are not the man I thought you were. You are a man willing to make hard sacrifices for the good of the galaxy." His chin juts upwards decisively. "This sacrifice is regrettable but necessary. You must know that. Otherwise, you would not have brought the boy here."

Anh-Li scoffs from the end of the room, turning to approach Jian swiftly. She kneels down in front of him, taking both of his hands with hers and looking at him with soft eyes.

"Hey, little one, how old are you?" She asks the question entreatingly.

"Eleven," he answers, a bit hesitant.

Anh-Li stands abruptly, stomping her foot. "You want to murder an eleven-year-old boy. _For the good of the galaxy!_ " She yells this at Jer'ah. She lets out a groan and turns again to pace the back of the room.

Jer'ah sighs deeply and looks down. Then he steps forward, making his way to Jian. He kneels down directly before him. Even kneeling, the broad-shouldered Chiss towers over the boy. He brings a large hand and rests it on his right shoulder.

"Boy," he begins neutrally. "You have done nothing wrong. You are innocent. But your power… it makes you dangerous. By being alive… by being able to do what you can do… by attempting to teach it to others… you are the single greatest threat to this galaxy."

Ben looks at Jian as Jer'ah speaks. He'd expect him to be height of his terror right about now. But instead he's shockingly calm. His fear seems to have dissipated. He looks more curious than anything else, gazing deep into the Chiss man's eyes as though he were reading him.

"He's right," Vikander leaps up from his crouched position on the chair and takes a couple of steps forward towards Anh-Li, who's still pacing. She stops to regard him with crossed arms and an accusing look. Jer'ah rises to observe them.

"Anh, this kid is a living, breathing Force-sensitive factory," Vikander continues. "He can literally _create_ Force-sensitives. You think Force power is a problem in the galaxy now? Well, wait until that Rey has this kid pumping out armies of 'em." He looks shiftily to the left and the right, an apocalyptic vision dancing across his eyes.

" _What!?_ " Jian speaks up suddenly. His eyebrows are furrowed, his face contorted. "Rey's not using me to make an army. That's not what— "

"This poor boy," Zax interrupts, tsking his tongue and shaking his head. "It's tragic, isn't it?" He looks over at Vikander from his seated position. The sandy-haired man looks back at him and nods with a heavy sigh. Then, he takes a couple of steps to kneel down before Jian.

"Kid, I'm so sorry. Sometimes people tell you one thing when they mean another thing entirely. You've been duped. Rey's been lyin' to you. You're brainwashed and you don't even know it." The freckle-faced man shakes his head ruefully. Jian's eyebrows knit as he looks back at Vikander quizzically, a hint of irony on his face. "And see… that's what makes you even more dangerous. You're young. You're impressionable. Someone can use you to do terrible things." He rises swiftly, looking up at Jer'ah next to him.

"Nothing's changed for me." He tries to say this confidently, but lacks conviction. "The kid's dangerous. He's gotta go." He turns back to resume his nervous perch on top of the chair. Jer'ah glances down at Jian once more, then retakes his place next to Zax.

Jian still stands in the center of the room. He's cocking his head, studying Vikander intently. Then his eyes travel upwards to Ekemma, then to Jer'ah, then to Cad… He's reading the room, exploring the mental terrain… and he appears intrigued with what he's finding.

No, Jian's not scared anymore. He's in the middle of his death tribunal and he's not scared. Because he's beginning to sense exactly what Ben did when he first met the Knights… their fear. Their brokenness. Their desperate desire to keep what happened to them from happening to anyone else. Ben feels Jian well with a deep, curious yearning— empathy.

God, this boy really is like Rey. The Knights are debating his murder, and he's feeling compassion for them.

" _Lohse_." She jumps next to Ben at the sound of Zax practically shouting her name. She finally takes her eyes off the floor to look at her leader. "Have you changed your vote, my dear?" There's a snide undertone in Zax's voice, as though he's baiting her and enjoying it.

Lohse breathes unevenly, still rubbing her hands together.

"I…" She starts and stops. She lets out a burst of air, shaking her head. A few awkward moments of silence pass. "The senators… that was one thing. But a boy? I…" She sighs and looks down. "I don't know."

The room falls quiet again. The tension is thick, almost suffocating.

"That just leaves Kylo Ren, I believe," Zax cuts the silence, face turning up to Ben. His lids are closing lazily over his eyes in a swaggering gaze. "What'll it be? Kill an eleven-year-old boy now to create a more peaceful galaxy for all the eleven-year-old boys of the future? Or spare this one, special boy's life… and risk all of theirs?"

Ben maintains a cold gaze, boring holes into those blue eyes. He can feel the tendrils reaching out in his mind, so soft and subtle. Like nothing he's ever felt before. Zax only seems to be observing… for now. Just peeking into his thoughts.

Ben keeps his gaze. Calmly. His mind is a front. Clear. But he won't be able to hold him off for long…

Zax is lurking in his mind and all eyes in the room are on him. A rising tide of anticipation surges though him…

"He wants you to say no."

Ben's head snaps to the center of the room along with everyone else's. Zax sits up, startled.

"He wants you to say no," Jian repeats. "In fact, he doesn't even want to kill me. That's why I'm not scared anymore." He gulps in spite of his bravado. Zax leans forward in his chair, gripping the arms tightly.

"It's all just a game, really," the boy continues, looking up at Ben. "The voting. This whole plan. If you say no, he'll get what he wants, but he'll still be the good guy in their eyes. Then some of the Knights, the important ones, will start to doubt your loyalty. Think your Rey's spy. They'll turn on you. And then," Jian stops and casts a glance at Zax with the audacity to look disapproving. "He has some really gross plans for your death."

"What an _overactive_ imagination you have." Zax shoots out of his chair, blustering, looking incredulous. He walks forward, eyes like lasers, fixed on Jian. He abruptly drops to the floor just in front of the boy.

"Tell me," he begins in a foreboding calm. "Wherever did you get this idea?"

"From your mind." Jian answers without skipping a beat.

Zax snorts. "Is that right?"

"Yep." Now Jian has a little attitude his voice. Ben can feel Zax's anger rise…

"So, you can read minds too?" Vikander asks from his perch, confused.

"Yeah, of course. All Force-sensitives can if they learn," Jian replies, looking around Zax to Vikander. "Some are better at it than others. I'm not like Zax or Aradia but… I'm pretty advanced." He says this with pride.

"You're pretty _deceitful_." Zax articulates each syllable in the last word, still kneeling just in front of him. "Making up lies about what's in my head."

"It's not a lie!" Jian practically yells this in response. In an instant, Zax lunges forward from his kneeling position and Jian takes a few steps back, frightened. He stands, menacing over the boy, looking down into him. Ben can see Jian's face contort in effort. Zax is trying to do a lot more than just read his mind… he's trying to shut him up. But his progress appears to be very slow.

After a minute of an intense stare down, both Zax and Jian snap back as if some force were pushing them away from each other. Zax turns to walk towards the Knights, eyes cast downward, hand at his jaw, looking pensive and flustered all at the same time.

"You're the liar." Jian suddenly announces from behind him. "You say you want to kill me but you don't."

"Oh, is that so," Zax whips around, his tone cutting, full of challenge.

"Yes, it's so," Jian says firmly.

"And why would I want you, the boy who can create Force-sensitivity out of _thin air_ , to be alive?" He takes a couple of swaggering steps towards him.

"Because you think I'm one of the Elect," Jian states this matter-of-factly. At this, Ben can hear Zax seethe.

The tension in the room is thick and getting downright turbulent. A wave of conflicting emotions sweeps across the room… the Knights have no idea what to make of the showdown happening before their eyes.

"You're the liar," Jian repeats. "And you're a murderer. You…" the boy hesitates suddenly, gulping as Zax steps right in front of him, toe to toe, bearing down.

"You killed Ben's mom."

Immediately, every Knight in the room snaps their eyes to Ben. The tension in the air just caught on fire.

Ben's heart drops into his stomach. He struggles to breathe. He feels like he was just punched in the gut.

"It wasn't a brain aneurism," Jian says, his eyes starting to well with tears, his voice beginning to break. "It was _you_!" He says this accusingly through a sob. "Because her funeral would get the senators out in the open for your attack. And because you knew that as long as she was around the Senate would _never_ shut down Rey's schools."

In an instant, Zax takes a step forward and Jian trips, falling on his back. Suddenly, the boy's face contorts in pain. He gasps desperately, small hands flying up to his ears. He forces himself to look up at Zax, trying to meet his mind probe with the best defense he can muster. He's overwhelmed by the effort, tears streaming down his cheeks.

" _Boy!_ " Zax's bark reverberates across the room. " _Stop_ your lying."

"No, you stop _your_ lying!" Jian manages to retort through his sobs. "Stop lying to all of these people. You're just using them to get what you want from the Senate. Then you'll kill all the Force-sensitive ones and wipe the memories of the rest!"

The shock of this barely registers before Zax lifts one hand in the air to give a cursory wave.

Blackness.

Ben stirs on the floor. He can hear the faint sound of an alarm going off in the distance. His eyes open slowly, vision blurry at first. His mind feels foggy, disoriented. He sees red and white lights flickering from above. He hardly remembers where he is…

He sits up, wiping a hand over his face. His vision begins to sharpen as he looks around.

Black-clad figures are crumpled unconscious on the ground. Then it hits him.

A rush of panic descends swiftly, striking him with a cold pang in the gut.

Zax. Jian. They're not here.

Ben scrambles to his feet, mind still foggy, body unbalanced. He takes another quick look around the room. Only Jer'ah is stirring.

He immediately lunges towards the door on his left, pressing a panel and racing out of the room. He slows his pace a bit, striding briskly down the narrow white halls. He has no idea where he's going. No idea where to look.

He reaches out with his Force senses, searching for their presence…

Nothing.

Then the thought enters his mind and his heart clinches in terror. Did Zax leave the base with Jian? If he did, it will be next to impossible to track them down…

He lets out a feverish exhale, quickening his pace back into a run. He flies around the corners of the halls and stops for just a moment to press a panel to another door. It whirs open and he barrels down the long metal stairway. Round and round he goes, the stairs twisting downward in an angled descent. Once he's close enough, Ben leaps over the rail and lands on the floor below.

He's in a large supply room now, sacks and crates stacked high to the ceiling. He races to the right corner and opens another door, flying down another set of stairs.

If Zax left with Jian, he would have gone to the port at the bottom of the structure. If Ben gets there and sees the ship is gone… He feels another clinch of terror in his chest.

He leaps over the rail again, sooner than he should, and lands hard on the floor. He lunges forward to the door at the end of the room but stops abruptly.

He's still. Perfectly still. And reaching out with his Force senses…

A voice. He hears a voice. Close by.

He closes his eyes, trying to zero in on the source. Then, he opens them and turns a heel slowly. He walks, carefully, to the dark metal door at the very back corner of the room. As he does, the sound of the voice becomes more perceptible.

He stops at the door for a moment, head tilted slightly, ear close to the cold metal. Then he presses a panel to the side to open it.

That's definitely Zax's voice. He can almost make out his words now.

Ben steps forward as cautiously and silently as possible onto the perforated metal floors. His boots cling softly as he moves into the warm room. This is the core of the structure, where everything is powered. It's very large and open— three stories high with generators of various sizes on the first floor, some stretching up high enough to be accessed on the third floor. There are a lot of nooks and small compartments here… plenty of places to hide.

A low, steady hum fills the room. And yet, Ben can start to make out what Zax is saying.

"Silly thing!" He catches the words followed by a cackle. "She doesn't know. She's not fit to teach you. No one is! _That's_ why you're Elect, you see."

Ben takes another step. Then another. _Carefully_.

"Me, you, Aradia, my sweet, sweet Dove. We're soulmates, but she doesn't know it yet."

Ben sees a set of stairs leading down to the second floor several paces ahead. He makes his way towards them.

"And that Narquois man, the terraforming one. None of us needed to be _taught_ how to use the Force. We just knew! We figured it out for ourselves."

He makes his way down the steps, one foot then another. _Slowly_.

"That's the way it _should_ be, Jian, my special, special boy. The only ones who can channel Force power without being corrupted by it are those who just have a natural inclination for it. The powerful ones. The Elect. All of the others… they're just fodder."

By the time he reaches the bottom, Ben he can see Zax pacing between the generators. It looks as though he's searching for something. Jian's nowhere in sight.

"That's one thing the Sith had going for them, you know. For centuries, they were only allowed to exist in twos— the master and the apprentice. That's the way to do it. Not like the Jedi. Not like Rey. Filling this whole galaxy with Force-trained ninnies."

Ben steps forward cautiously. He sees another set of stairs ahead. He steps towards them, one foot, then another.

"Of course, I suppose I should be careful what I say about Rey now."

In an instant, Ben feels himself frozen. He attempts to move forward, to break free, but he finds he has no control over his own body.

"Nice of you to join us, _Kylo Ren_ ," Zax announces without looking up, still pacing in between the generators, fingers taught like claws at his side. "Sorry to bash your girl. It's only that she's _such_ _an idiot_." He enunciates the last words dramatically.

Ben is still stuck in place, fighting to move his limbs to no avail.

"Awwww," Zax intones a fake whine. "You're not used to this are you, Kylo? Being frozen in place. Being so out of your league. How does it feel? How does it feel to be so… powerless?" He chuckles at the last word, pleased with himself. "You think you feel powerless now, just wait until what I have in store for you." His tone darkens into something threatening. "I admit it! The boy was right. I have an absolutely _fabulous_ plan for your demise. Trust me when I say you'll be _begging_ for death before I'm done with you."

Ben stops fighting. It's no use and a waste of his energy. He closes his eyes, still locked solid, reaching out to sense Jian's presence in the room.

"Don't bother," Zax announces dismissively. "The boy's cloaking himself, quite well I must say. If I can't find him through the Force you don't have the slightest chance. Such a _special, special_ boy."

Ben ignores Zax, still searching…

"Anyways, what was I saying? Oh right." Zax is out of his view now. But Ben hears him open and close compartments as he continues speaking. "The Sith. See, it's not just the rule of two. You know the Sith operated in secret. Who knew that Palpatine was Darth Sidious all of that time? No one! It's brilliant. It's the best way operate, you see. In the shadows. Don't give the galaxy a reason to fear you or even know that you exist in the first place."

Suddenly, Ben hears something scrape across the floor and crash against a generator. Zax is getting more and more frustrated.

"That's us Jian. That's out lot, our legacy. To hide in the shadows, imperceptible gods reshaping the galaxy as needed. It's what the New Age is all about. More Force-sensitives means more powerful people like you and me. Rey thinks we're the vanguard, the ones who will expand the limits of Force use, discover new tricks to teach to others so we can all work together to make the galaxy a better place _fa la la la la_." Ben hears a loud clattering as though Zax just kicked down a stack of something to the ground.

"But she's _wro-ong_ ," He draws this out almost musically. "We ARE the New Age. Not her. Not any of these other peons she's been training. _US!_ We were born for this, Jian. To rise up and lead the galaxy into the future, to protect it. And the first thing we must do is _banish_ the practice of training Force-sensitive beings." Zax's voice suddenly rises to a wild growl. "If you have to be trained to use it, well then, you don't _deserve_ the power of the Force."

Ben hears Zax leap and open another compartment. Then he starts cursing. He hears another object scrape across the floor and crash loudly on the other end of the room.

"Which is _why_ ," Zax's voice is calmer now, back to an almost musical tenor. "All of the others have to go. I'm not saying it'll be pretty. I'm not saying it won't be a tragedy. But it simply _must be done_." Ben hears Zax hop around as he says this last bit. "It's our duty to the galaxy, Jian. We have to dispose of those who aren't like us. There's really no other way."

Finally, Ben catches sight of Zax again from his frozen position on the second floor. He sees him pace between the central generators, hands on his hips, hunching over, his back to him. Suddenly, he twists around to look up at him.

"I mean… Kylo Ren. You gave it your best effort," he says patronizingly. "You tried to protect the galaxy from Force use. But here was the flaw in your plan—" He steps closer, just below the railing where Ben is frozen in place. "The Force can't be destroyed, you silly thing." He shakes his head incredulously, blue eyes bright and bemused, as though he were speaking to a child. "It can be weakened, but it can't be destroyed. The Force is inevitable. _Trying to destroy the Force is like trying to destroy the universe!"_ He announces this triumphantly, hands reaching up and shaking in emphasis. Then he turns a heel and resumes pacing between the generators, bringing his hands to clasp them behind his back. "No, the Force must be managed. And Jian and I— we're the ones called to do it. Us. Aradia. Kevan, the terraformer. We are the _chosen ones_ , chosen to cleanse the galaxy of its demons."

Ben sees Zax stop abruptly. His head turns slowly to the left.

"You know I'm right, boy," he begins again in a softer tone. He kneels down in front of the generator before him as though he can sense Jian crouching on the other side of it. "You feel your calling. I can sense that in you despite all your efforts to keep me out. You know that your destiny is so much greater than what Rey has in store for you. Don't you, boy?" Zax leans forward a bit on one knee. "She's too small-minded to see what I see. Which is why…" he pauses dramatically for a moment. "You're going to have to kill her."

In an instant, Ben sees Jian leap out from the opposite corner of the generator, arms extended towards Zax, hands taut. Zax twists to face him in the center of the room, arms flying out to freeze him in place.

From Ben's fixed position, he only sees Jian's back but he has a clear view of Zax's face. It's contorted in angry effort. He's seething, pushing his breath in and out sharply between his teeth, creating a kind of hissing noise. He and Jian are separated by only a few paces. They both stand taut, arms extended, fingers spread wide like claws, each trying to dominate the other.

" _Boy_ ," Zax manages to hiss under his breath. " _Don't_ make this difficult." He lunges forward a bit from his kneeling position, trying to stand. Jian stumbles back a couple of steps. Ben can hear the boy panting and grunting in effort.

Zax rises fully, arms still extended. He takes a slow, deliberate step towards Jian. Then another. Then another. Jian doesn't move, hands still out towards Zax, his grunts of effort getting more panicked as Zax steps closer to him.

" _Bo-oy_ ," Zax says in his musical voice. "Don't fight this, boy. Don't fight your destiny." Zax is just a meter away from Jian. The tips of their fingers are practically touching.

Suddenly, Jian stumbles back, palms flying behind him to break his fall. He's taking quick, sharp inhales as though he can't catch his breath. He looks up at Zax towering above him, still extending his hands down towards him.

" _You can't keep me out of your mind forever_ ," Zax growls through gritted teeth. "I will _break_ you." Jian cries out in terror as he's pulled up through a force other than his own. He hovers, his small feet dangling just a few inches from the floor. He's grunting and groaning in effort, trying to break free of Zax's invisible grip.

Ben feels a pang of fear in his gut. He begins fighting again, desperate to move, desperate to fly over the rail and land on the floor near Jian. But it's no use. Zax has both him and Jian under his thumb.

Zax stands just before Jian, both hands extended out, fingers wide and stiff. Jian struggles in the air, limbs dangling helplessly.

"There it is," Zax announces in quiet menace. "A chink in your armor. Let me see now." Zax twists his hands to the side and Jian shrieks in pain. He starts sobbing and kicking his feet uncontrollably.

"That's it, that's it," Zax keeps saying. " _Let me in_."

Suddenly, a guttural noise rises from Jian's core. It starts as a low groan but quickly escalates into a battle cry that reverberates across the room. His palms fly out and almost instantly, he drops from the air to his feet. He nearly falls back but keeps his balance. His palms are straight now, straight as a board and directly in front of him, open towards Zax.

Zax lets out a growl of impatience stepping forward with his hands still like claws extended towards Jian.

But then, suddenly, he steps back, retracting his hands into his chest. He lets out a light cry of surprise. Jian takes a step towards him, palms still out. Zax actually starts to back away, his eyes wide, his face ashen. He trips over himself and lands on his back on the floor.

Then Ben feels it… he's starting to regain control over his own body.

 _It's happening._

Slowly, as if breaking through a case of ice, Ben frees his limbs from Zax's waning grip. He immediately barrels down the stairs to the first floor, quickly approaching Jian. He halts.

Jian's back is still to him. He's walking forwards towards Zax, slowly, methodically, as Zax backs away on the ground, trembling, looking up at him with terror in his eyes. Now Zax is starting to whimper.

 _It's happening._

Ben feels a warm rush of affirmation begin to surge from within. _He was right._

Jian can give… _and Jian can_ _take away_. He can enhance one's connection to the Force, _or he can cut it off entirely_.

Zax shakes uncontrollable on the floor, looking at his hands, completely flabbergasted. Jian finally releases his palms, his arms resting lightly by his side.

Zax is powerless now. Utterly powerless.

"Wha- wha-," he stutters in a broken voice, his fear almost palpable. "What did you do?" He looks up to Jian, his shock quickly transforming into rage. " _What did you do?_ " Zax cries out, starting to look desperate.

" _What did you do!?_ " Zax scrambles to his feet and lunges viciously towards Jian, eyes wild with rage.

Ben's hand shoots out immediately, freezing Zax in place. He strides forward briskly and waves a hand. Zax falls to the floor with a thud, unconscious. Ben kneels down to inspect him. He's out. Out like a light. And he will be for some time.

For a minute, neither Jian nor Ben say a word. Ben still kneels over Zax, examining him. Jian still pants close behind him, his breath starting to slow down. The low hum of the generators fills the room.

"You," Jian finally breaks the silence, his voice incredulous. "You knew I could do that." Ben turns his head to look up at the boy. His eyes are wide with wonder. A smile teases the corner of his lips.

"You _knew_ I could do that," he repeats, excitement rising in his voice. "Even I didn't know I could do that. But you did. You _knew_." Now Jian breaks into a full-on grin.

"Why are you smiling?" Ben probes in a disapproving tone.

" _Because_ ," Jian exclaims stepping towards him, a huge grin still on his face. "I thought you didn't even like me. But it turns out you _believed_ in me. You believed in me more than anyone else. More than dad. More than Rey. I mean," he blusters, "she didn't even want me to come on the mission, much less try to fight him. But _you_?" Jian shakes his head in disbelief. "You were like— if I bring Jian to the Interloper, he's gonna _cream him_. Wipe him out. Huh!" Jian balls his fists and juts his elbows back as he says this.

Ben rolls his eyes. "It was nothing that dramatic," he says evenly.

"What do you mean?" Jian insists, hands flying out by his side. "I just took out the Interloper! _By myself!_ It's the most dramatic thing I've ever done." The boy's practically bouncing in place now, ecstatic. "I'm like a warrior now." Jian looks up thoughtfully, pleased with this new role he's given himself.

Suddenly, both Jian and Ben's head snap up when they hear heavy footsteps on the third floor above. Jer'ah hands are on the rails, looking over below to Zax's body on the floor. The other Knights are filing into the room behind him. The room fills with the sound of boots clanging loudly on the perforated metal floors as they all barrel down the stairs to the first floor.

Jer'ah is the first one down. He immediately strides over to Zax and kneels next to Ben. The Chiss looks up at him with his red eyes.

"Is he…?"

Ben shakes his head no. "He's alive. Just knocked out." The Knights all walk towards Zax, forming a circle around him. They gaze down at him in silence, some of them with gaping mouths, all of them with a look of shock. They're still processing… trying to figure out what's happened… what's been happening…

"So," Vikander is the first one to speak. He shakes his head violently as if trying to wake himself from a dream. "Kid." He looks over at Jian. "Were you…?" He stops and sighs in frustration as if he's not sure what to ask. "Is it true? What you said? Has Zax," he gulps, "has Zax been lying to us?"

Jian's eyes widen to become huge. " _Oh yeah_." He nods his head yes dramatically. "He's been telling you all kinds of lies. About Rey. About her schools. About me. About the Force. About the Senate. I mean, it's true he wanted the Senate to ban training Force-sensitives, but that was just stage 1. Then he was going to kill all of the Force-sensitives in the galaxy, including you guys, and only leave people like me, the really powerful ones."

Vikander lets out a disbelieving huff of air, mouth still gaping, shaking his head. He looks around at the other Knights, trying to gage their reaction to this… Do they believe the boy? None of them are looking up. All of them are fixed on Zax's body on the ground, eyes turbulent, trying to work out the truth.

Then, in an instant, Vikander grabs the blaster from the hilt of his waist and points it directly at Zax's unconscious body.

" _NO!_ " Ben barks, hand flying up to freeze Vikander into place.

But it's too late. He already tried to pull the trigger. Now he's on his back on the floor, groaning incomprehensively, head moving rhythmically from side to side, eyes open and rolled back into his head. The Knights all gasp and Anh-Li runs over to kneel down next to him. She places her hands on either side of his head, trying to steady him, keep him from swinging back and forth. But it's no use.

"What's happening to him?" Lohse turns to Ben, face ashen with shock. Ben sighs heavily and stands.

"Zax has all of your minds rigged, so to speak," he informs them.

" _What!?_ " Ekemma steps towards him, eyes burning with intensity. Ben looks over at her.

"It's what happened to Solomon. I tried to interrogate him after the attack on the funeral, but I didn't get far before this happened." He gestures to Vikander on the floor. He looks up and around the room, making eye contact with all of the Knights.

"This will happen to all of you," He intones in a dark warning. "If you try to betray him in any way— share his secrets, attempt to kill him— _this_ will be the result." He points down at Vikander.

"And how do we know you're telling us the truth?" Cad, the red-skinned Zeltron, steps forward, eyes accusing and full of doubt.

"You're welcome to test it out for yourself," Ben glances down at the lightsaber attached to his hip. Cad takes a breath, looking guarded but doing nothing.

"Can it be… reversed?" Anh-Li asks practically in tears, still gazing down at Vikander, stroking his forehead.

" _Yes_ ," Ben replies emphatically. "Solomon's is being reversed as we speak. By Aradia. They're both waiting for you on Cantonica. We can take you there and she can undo everything Zax has done." He looks around at the Knights, trying to read them. They're all still looking out blankly, not at anything in particular. They're still in shock.

"How?" Ekemma asks suddenly, head snapping over to Ben

"Aradia has abilities similar to Zax," He responds. "She's gifted at mind man—"

" _No_." Ekemma interrupts him. "How did you do _this_ to Zax? How did you neutralize him?" Ekemma looks up at him, eyebrows furrowed.

"I did that, actually."

All of the Knights turn to look at Jian. His hand is raised, as if volunteering for something. He lets it down at his side.

" _You?_ " Lohse asks, clearly not believing him.

"It's true," Ben says evenly. "It turns out that Jian has the ability to cut off one's connection to the Force as well as enhance it." He hears a couple of gasps.

"Is it permanent?" Jer'ah probes in his deep voice, stepping towards Jian. The boy takes a heavy breath.

"Well…" he starts tentatively. "Probably not right now. But Rey thinks that I'll eventually be able to make Force enhancement permanent, so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to do the same with this." He looks up at the Chiss and shrugs his shoulders.

"Until then, we need to keep him unconscious," Ben interjects.

" _Unconscious!?_ " The Chiss man's voice booms in an uncharacteristically emotional tenor. His gaze snaps to Ben. "No." He shakes his head firmly, looking down at Zax's body below. "This man, _this monster_ , needs to die." He looks back up at Ben. "And you're the only one of us who can do it." His red eyes pierce his.

Ben looks back at the man, a bit stunned. He can't help but feel short of breath. They stare at each other silently for a few moments.

"Do it." He turns to the sound of Lohse's voice to the right. "Kill the bastard. He's a menace. I can't _believe_ …" she stops, voice breaking slightly. She buries her face in her palms, shaking her head. "I can't believe I let myself fall into this mess. Just kill him." She drops her hands and takes a couple of manic steps towards Ben, eyes sharp with anger. " _Do it_ ," she insists.

"Do it." Cad joins her.

"Do it." He's followed by Ekemma.

"Do it." Ty speaks for the first time tonight, his brother Mouse shaking his head in approval next to him.

Jer'ah glances down at the lightsaber attached to Ben's hip and then looks back up at Ben. He nods his head at him solemnly. Ben looks away. He can feel all eyes in the room on him.

He unhooks the lightsaber and stares down at in his hand. He's frozen in indecision.

"My friend," the deep Chiss voice breaks the silence. "This man murdered your mother. Allowing him to live would be a great dishonor to her."

At this, Ben lets out a long, heavy sigh. He gazes up into the ceiling, a look of resignation and acceptance on his face.

"Trust me when I tell you," he begins in a firm voice, "that it would be a far greater dishonor to my mother to kill this man." He purses his lips and nods.

"Why?" The Chiss asks, confounded by this.

"Because," Ben starts, then stops, scoffing softly to shake his head. "Not every problem can be solved by killing it." He looks up at the Knights, his gaze confident and decisive. "One death today can save a million lives tomorrow, it's true. But it can cause a million deaths just as easily."

Suddenly, for the first time since she found out who he was, Anh-Li's eyes snap up to meet Ben's. But they aren't full of anger. They're tinged with surprise and perhaps even… admiration?

"You _must_ be joking." Lohse's sardonic voice cuts in.

"Think about it." Ben looks over at her. "If I hadn't killed Zax's brother, his family, destroyed his home… would he be like this?" Lohse's eyes darken in thought. She looks away. "You know he wouldn't." Ben shakes his head, looking around at the others. " _I'm_ the reason he became this way. If not for me, he'd be with his family right now, not plotting the destruction of innocent lives. None of you would be here if it weren't for me." Ben looks down and sighs. He takes a step towards Zax's unconscious body.

"There's no reason to kill him. Not when we have a way to keep him from being dangerous." He looks over at Jian. Then he looks back to the Knights. "What this boy can do… it changes things. It changes everything."

"How?" Anh-Li asks, twisting to face him in her crouched position next to Vikander, her eyes curious.

"Because it means that if any Force-sensitive ever uses their abilities to harm someone, we only have to hunt them down once."

"What do you mean _we_?" Ekemma asks guarded, crossing her arms, raising an eyebrow at Ben expectantly.

Ben stares back at her, a slight flutter in his chest. He takes a long, measured breath. Then he walks towards Jian and kneels down before him, gazing at him deeply.

"Jian," he starts solemnly. "You taught Rey your Force enhancement skill, no?" The boy nods his head. "Do you think you can teach me what you did today?" He leans in, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Sure!" Jian answers immediately. "Yeah, I can do that. Probably. I mean definitely," he correctly himself. "Whenever you want." He nods his head eagerly. Ben rises again, slowly. He turns around to face the Knights. They're all looking at him curiously, expectant, unsure of what he's getting at. Ben scans the room, making eye contact with each one of them.

"You all joined Zax because you feared the power of the Force. You feared what people can do through it." He stops, eyes fixed on Jer'ah. "You joined him because you wanted to protect the galaxy. Keep it safe from those who would abuse the Force's power." He twitches his jaw, eyes moving over to Ekemma. "What if I told you there was a way you could still do that? Still devote your lives to keeping what happened to you from happening to anyone else?" Ekemma cocks her head in curiosity as if to say, " _Go on_."

Ben looks around the room again, eyes settling on Anh-Li's. She's looking at him with intense anticipation. She senses where he's going with this…

"You all need to come with me to Cantonica," he continues. "You need your minds cleaned of Zax's influence. But while you're there…" his voice trails off for a moment. "I want you to meet Rey." At this, Cad scoffs dismissively. Ben's head snaps towards his.

"She not what Zax told you she is," he says firmly. "Meet her. Talk to her for yourself. Ask her about the New Age. About the schools. About what they're doing." His eyes move on from Cad and begin to scan the room again. "If you do that… you'll find that she's very different from me. My opposite, in fact." He looks down. "My instinct has always been to destroy, to kill." He looks back up. "But her instinct is to create. To grow. To improve." The Knights all stare back at him, their eyes softer, curious. "She wants to use the Force to make the galaxy a better place. And she has some good ideas for doing that."

"That all sounds well and good," Ekemma interrupts suddenly. "But whatever good things that come from channeling the power of the Force don't erase the dangers. They're still there. _Lurking_. Threatening all of us."

"You're right," Ben nods his head firmly. "The potential for good does not negate the potential for evil. Both possibilities will always exist, hand in hand. _But_ …" He articulates the last word. "I no longer think," he starts deliberately, "that the best decision in the face of that reality is to destroy the good along with the bad. There's another choice. A middle ground."

"What choice?" Lohse crosses her arms. The Knights all look to Ben. They're still standing in a ring around Zax's body, Anh-Li looking up from her crouched position next to Vikander. Jian stands off to the side, observing with intense interest.

"Discretion," Ben answers confidently. "And management." He glances over at Jian. Then he takes a deep breath. "I have a plan for keeping this galaxy safe in the New Age." He looks back up at the Knights, meeting each pair of eyes individually. "But I need your help."

The room is hushed, quiet except for the sound of the generators humming all around them. The Knights begin to look at each other, uncertain, trying to read one another, determine how to respond.

Finally, Jer'ah takes a step forward towards Ben, his red eyes piercing. Both men stare at each other wordlessly for a few seconds. Then the Chiss speaks.

"Tell us about this plan."


	20. Chapter 19: Finding Balance

**Author's Note: I am** _ **unforgivably**_ **late in posting this chapter. Please accept my sincerest apologies!**

The Senate dome is abuzz with all manner of noise.

Rey can hear a gaggle of clicking sounds to her left. Low, beastly grunts just below. What can only be described as honking just above. If she wanted to, she could pick out every individual noise in this room.

So that's exactly what she starts to do.

Rey closes her eyes and reaches out with her Force senses. She stands tall, shoulders back, feet planted firmly on a hovering deck positioned in the dead center of the dome. It's the perfect spot for this.

Whispers to the right. Hushed. Worried. Smooth, gliding tongues next to them. Louder. Nonchalant. Emphatic remonstrating below them. Angry. Imperious.

She touches on the voices one by one, lightly, each fragments of conversation. She doesn't know most of the languages being spoken yet she understands the words nonetheless— in spirit and intent. So many individuals. So many stories. So many lives.

In a strange way, this helps settle her nerves, those butterflies in her stomach that just won't go away.

Of all the challenges Rey has faced in her young but battle-worn life, _public speaking_ is perhaps the most terrifying. She's not cut out for this sort of thing. Not in the slightest. Politics. The art of persuasion.

But she's had to learn. And luckily, her teacher was one of the greatest diplomats this galaxy has ever seen.

At this, the memory starts to play in her mind again involuntarily. It was the night before Rey's first appearance before the Senate. She remembers sitting on the floor, anxiously rubbing her hands together, sharing her survival strategy with Leia. She told her that she intended to look up and around but at no one in particular during her speech, trying to blur out all of the faces. The plan was to think of the audience as just a nameless mass.

Leia had huffed. "Do that, and what's the point of speaking at all?" She'd challenged her. "When you speak, even to a large crowd, you're still speaking _to_ _someone_. So, speak to them. Look at them. Pick out individuals and look them in the eye. Try to read them. Sense their response to your words. Make them feel _heard_."

Ever since that night, this is the philosophy Rey brings with her to the Senate floor. _Make them feel heard._ Teasing over these fragments of conversation prime her for what she's about to do. They remind her that she's speaking to individuals today. And she wants them to know that she's been listening.

There now. She's starting to relax. A little.

Rey will take whatever relief she can get. She has many reasons to be anxious besides her fear of public speaking.

Because today is not just another appearance before the Senate. No, today is the first day of the rest of her life. It's the culmination of her destiny. _Their_ destiny.

Today is the day that the New Age really begins.

A rush of affirmation surges through her… affirmation mixed with excitement, trepidation, and a fluttering anxiety.

Ben has finally accepted it. Their destiny. Co-leaders, two halves of a whole. That's why she's here today. To share his plan. To show the Senate how they will work together to manage this New Age, to allow Force use to grow while also protecting the galaxy from its dangers.

Of course, the Senate has to _approve_ this plan. That's the tricky part. If this isn't granted, Ben could spend the rest of his life rotting in prison.

His words echo ominously in her mind. "Whatever happens to the Knights, happens to me."

He was very clear on this point. Part of her admires him for his devotion to them. But another part is terrified about what could happen if things go wrong. What about Irenie and Soya? What about her? Rey starts to feel sick again.

 _NO._

She closes her eyes and focuses intently, drawing herself deep inside the folds of her consciousness, down, down, down… Ah. There it is. She surrenders herself to her connection to the Force, becoming enveloped in the warm calmness of absolute certainty. It feels like… Balance. Destiny.

No, the Force didn't guide her all the way here only to dash everything she's worked so hard to achieve at the crucial moment.

Suddenly, her eyes snap open when she hears the rhythmic chimes— _bong, bong, bong_ — that call the Senate to order. She immediately looks behind her to the left. Finn's standing tall, feet firmly planted. He looks calm but she senses he's just as nervous as she is. He gives her a nod of encouragement. She turns forward again.

Finn's fully behind this plan. At least, he is now. First, he had to recover from his blinding rage over exactly how Ben put this plan into motion. Thankfully, Jian is _much_ better at persuasion than she is.

The cacophonous medley of noises begins to die down. It disappears completely the moment the Supreme Chancellor steps forward in front of Rey, raising both arms high above her head, palms turned up towards the ceiling.

The dome falls silent. Completely hushed.

The Cerean woman releases her hands gently to her side. She takes another step forward, her long, grey robes swishing softly as she does. She juts her chin up, the sharp tip of her elongated head dipping back towards Rey.

"The Senate is now called to session." Her voice is strong and confident. It reverberates across the expanse of the dome. "Per the request of _many_ here today, we will begin straight away with a report from the Committee on the Management of Force Use." The Cerean steps back and to the side, turning her body to gesture towards Rey.

She steps forward, looking up and around, catching the eyes of individual senators peering at her expectantly from their hoverdecks. The room is thick with tumultuous emotions— hope, anger, curiosity, fear, anticipation. They blend together and surge through her body, like electricity coursing through her veins.

Her heart starts to beat uncontrollably as though it's about to burst from her chest. Her breath quickens, becoming short and shallow.

She tries to take a deep inhale, but it's jagged and superficial.

Suddenly, she feels a tinge of warmth from within. It grows, slow but steady, banishing the fraying, contradiction of emotions wracking her body until only one is left— love. Pure love. Selfless. Everlasting.

 _I'm with you, Rey_ , she hears his voice in her mind. _You can do this._

She takes another breath, this one long and satisfying. Then she takes a step forward, elbows bent, hands clasped lightly in front of her.

"Honored Senators of the New Republic," she begins. "I will not hold you in suspense. I've come here first and foremost to confirm what you've already heard— we've captured the Interloper. He is no longer a threat to you or the galaxy."

Several gasps, murmurs, and a sparse round of claps shoot across the room.

Rey pauses for a moment to let the noise die down.

"What about the Knights?" A nasally voice suddenly calls out from below.

She looks down towards the source, a small yellowish man. "They've all been neutralized. They're in custody here in Coruscant," she informs him evenly.

"Neutralized?" A gruff voice cuts in the right. "By that, I hope you mean _imprisoned_ "

" _Enough._ " Rey raises a hand, surprised at the authoritative tenor of her own voice. "Your questions will be answered in due course, _today_." She catches the eye of the Bothan senator who just spoke.

"There is much for me to share with you," she begins again, "But before I start, there is something else I must say first. Something long overdue." Rey gulps and looks around the dome. "I must ask you all… to accept my sincerest apologies." A wave of murmurs sweeps across the room.

Rey lets out a long exhale, relaxing her shoulders.

"When I did what I did three years ago… when I brought this New Age into being… I did it with _purpose_. I did to open up new possibilities for using Force power to improve life in the galaxy. And I went straight to work." She gestures with both her hands on either side of her.

"I searched the galaxy for new Force-sensitives. I built relationships with powerful people who discovered ways to use Force power that I never could have imagined. I secured funding, built their schools, recruited students to learn from them and from me. As soon as I could, I put these new skills to use. I was _so eager_ to create, to build, to grow…" She lets her voice trail off. A few seconds of silence pass.

"I was so eager that I couldn't see the hole right in front of me. And I fell right into it. I was so focused on all the good I could accomplish through expanding Force use that I didn't fully account for the dangers. And for that… I apologize. I apologize to you all." She pauses again and looks down.

"Unbridled creation… unchecked, unchallenged… that is not balance." She looks back up. "All this time I've been missing something. My other half. The one that knows all too well how dangerous Force power can be." She looks up and around the dome, catching the gaze of several senators as she does.

"You all have helped me realize this. By _challenging_ me. By bringing your concerns to me. By showing me your fears. I needed to hear it. I needed to hear all of it." She looks out, solemn and confident. "And I want to demonstrate to you now that I _have been listening_." She brings her shoulders back and down, standing tall.

"The Interloper has been captured, but the larger question remains. How can we keep the galaxy safe from those like him, from people who would use Force power to destructive ends?" She pauses for a few moments. "I'm here today to share with you an answer to that question— a plan, one that that directly addresses concerns that you have raised." Rey feels a wave of anticipation wash over her from the senators.

She looks to her left to an older woman with long, white hair cascading down her back. "The last time I spoke to the Senate, someone reminded me that the Jedi operated in the galaxy under a code, a code that facilitated trust by communicating the Jedi's values to the public." She looks to another Senator below, a Rodian woman with slick eyes.

"This New Age needs its own code," Rey continues. "This is the first part of the plan. I've scheduled a summit to take place on Cantonica a few weeks from now. Leaders from all of the Force schools will come together and create a code of ethics that we all share, a code guided by a respect for life and sense of responsibility to the galaxy." She pauses to take a breath.

"But a code alone is not enough," she starts again. "There must be a way to enforce the code. That's the second part of the plan. Enforcement. Enforcement and much more." Rey feels her heart start to beat faster.

 _Here we go_.

"Right now, there are three Force schools," she continues. "I'm here to discuss the establishment of a fourth school, a school with a specific mission founded on one _undeniable_ fact." Rey's face grows solemn.

"Force power is dangerous." She articulates each word as she speaks. "This galaxy has been brought to its knees, twice in one century, by beings powerful in the Force and determined to use it to bend others to their will. It's happened before and if we're not careful, it will happen again."

The dome is hushed, dead silent. Several senators are leaning forward in their seats. The air's so thick with anticipation it's practically suffocating. Rey glances up to the highest level of the dome, lined with empty hoverdecks.

"In an age with more Force-sensitives than ever before, we need an entity that's sole responsibility is to bring those who abuse Force power to justice, and to do so in a manner that _strongly_ discourages others from even attempting such a thing." Rey pauses, heart thumping wildly in her chest.

"Which is why… we need the Knights."

The moment the words leave her mouth, three black-clad, masked figures emerge from the shadows in the uppermost level of the dome. The trio steps forward onto an empty hoverdeck in the center, one figure in the lead, two behind.

Immediately, the senate erupts into chaos— gasps and cries, several senators shooting up to their feet in terror.

" _Stop!_ " Rey shouts, raising both palms up. "They are not here to harm you; they're here to serve you." At this, the Knights take a knee and bow their heads.

The chaos subsides into feverish commotion, the senators all speaking wildly to each other.

"How dare you bring these monsters to the Senate floor!" She hears a Mon Calamari man rage at her in a deep, gurgled voice from above.

"They're _not_ monsters," Rey shoots back almost reflexively. "And they're here for a reason." Rey gestures firmly with her right index finger pointed. Then she drops her hand by her side, pausing to collect herself.

The noise in the room begins to die down, though several senators still stand, looking up intently at the Knights kneeling at the top of the dome. Rey senses waves of intense emotion throughout the room— a complex mixture of anger, curiosity, and shock.

"The Knights you see above," Rey begins confidently, "have come here today as representatives. I speak on their behalf to ask you to accept a proposal—"

"A proposal!" The blustering voice of a turquoise-skinned blubreen woman interrupts from below. "From a pack of murderers! Are you mad?" A wave of assenting voices sweeps across the Senate floor.

" _Quiet!_ " Rey shouts this so loudly her voice reverberates across the dome. The commotion begins to die down. She closes her eyes and bows her head for a moment. Then she looks straight at the blubreen senator below her.

"Trust me." She gives the woman a knowing nod. "If I were in your position, I'd think I was mad too." She lets her gaze linger for a moment before she begins scanning the room with narrowed eyes. "But I know something that you don't." She pauses, continuing to scan the room.

"I know that all of you here have _much_ more in common with the Knights than you'd ever imagine." At this, she sees a few senators' heads jerk back in surprise.

Rey looks solemnly to her right and her left. "Firstly," she begins with confidence, "Like you, the Knights are victims. Victims of the Interloper's manipulation. They've had their memories tampered with— changed or erased all together. They've had their will violated, forced to agree or disagree on a whim. And they've been treated like animals, given a mental collar of sorts so that if any one of them every tried to betray or harm the Interloper, they'd immediately become trapped in their worst nightmare." Rey looks around the room, letting these revelations settle.

"Secondly," Rey continues, "and perhaps most importantly, all of this time, since the _very first_ moment the Interloper made himself known…" Rey stops, letting anticipation hang thick in the air, "the Knights _and_ the Senate were nothing but pawns, unwitting instruments in the Interloper's hands." At this Rey, hears several scoffs. She feels a low rumble of anger sweep across the room.

"Pawns!" The Bothan man to her left blusters, rising from his seat. "I am no pawn!"

"Yes, _you were_ ," Rey assures him in a strong tone, gesturing emphatically. Low murmurs fill the dome around her.

"I know this because now that he's been captured, we know what the Interloper was after." Rey pauses to let the murmurs die down. "It wasn't to destroy the Senate or the New Republic. It was to _frighten_ the Senate into banning the training of Force-sensitives across the galaxy." Immediately, Rey feels the shock of this revelation rip through her like a barrage of blaster fire. Several senators are gaping at her.

"The idea was to give the Senate the impression that a new group of Force-sensitives, just like the Knights of Ren, were on the rise to overthrow the Republic," she continues. "The point was to inspire fear, which would then inspire the most extreme action. And once he achieved his goal through the Knights, the Interloper planned to murder them." Rey notices many of the senators are staring distantly into space, trying to process everything they're hearing.

Rey sighs and looks down for a moment. "This shocked me too, when I first heard it." She shrugs her shoulders in disbelief, then looks up and around the room. "It's troubling, _deeply_ troubling…" she lets her voice trail off. "But here's the thing that really troubles me, the thing that's been keeping me up at night since I first found out about it..." She lets out another sigh, this one heavy with emotion. Then she begins to gaze out at the room with pleading eyes.

"Would it have worked?" Several senators stare back at her unblinking. " _Would it have worked?_ " She repeats, articulating each word. "If the Interloper were still at large, if the Knights were still under his influence, if they were still carrying on with this charade… would the Senate have eventually given the Interloper exactly what he wanted?"

Rey shrugs again, at a loss. "I don't know." She shakes her head. "I just don't know."

For the first time since she arrived, the Senate floor is absolutely hushed. Rey's not sure she's ever heard it this quiet before. Every single living thing in the room seems to be consumed by the question she just asked.

Rey closes her eyes and for a few seconds and reaches out with her Force senses, feeling the emotional tide of the room. There is some denial. Some anger. But mostly there is acceptance. And regret. And shame.

"You know," Rey starts to speak again, eyes downcast. She surprised by the way her voice sounds… so relaxed, so open, as though she were talking to Finn and not a dome full of the most powerful people in the galaxy.

"If that had happened… if the Senate eventually gave the Interloper what he was after…" She lets out a great exhale. "I can't help but feel that I would've been the one most responsible for that outcome." She finally looks up, making eye contact with several individuals. They look back at her… Quiet. Solemn. Surprised and almost relieved at this admission of guilt.

"Because I think about you." Rey continues to scan the dome. "I think about the position you've been in. Hearing about all of these new Force-sensitives, new abilities, new schools… watching the Interloper and the Knights emerge from the shadows to terrorize you and threaten everything you're working so hard to build…" Rey's shoulders drop and she looks down, shaking her head. "And all the while, feeling _so frustrated_ that I, the leader of this New Age, didn't seem to fully understand your fear, your concern of what all of this could mean…. to you… to your people. Those you've sworn to protect." She looks up again, eyes intense.

"I didn't give you enough reason to have faith in me, to have faith in my ability to grow a new community of Force users without putting your people in danger. And the truth is…" her voice trails off for a moment. "I've learned that it's not in my nature to think in the way that is necessary to keep this galaxy safe. To me, the Force will always be a gift. Given my past, I can't help but think of Force power as first and foremost a _good thing_. It's hard for me to consider all of the ways the Force can be used for evil," Rey puts a hand over her heart, "to truly feel that to the point where I'm constantly on guard for the dangers." She pauses for a moment.

"But it's not hard for them." Rey points up to the trio of Knights still kneeling at the top of the dome. "Not _at all_. Because every single one of the Knights is a victim of the abuse of Force power in some way. Betrayed by Snoke. Attacked by the Knights of Ren. Homes and families utterly destroyed. Thanks to the First Order, they have _nothing_ left, nothing but a deep, aching desire to keep what happened to them from happening to anyone else." Several of the senators are standing at the edge of their hoverdecks, peering curiously up at the Knights.

"They truly are my other half." Rey brings out her hands, gesturing to either side of her. "They're what this New Age has been missing since it began. A group of people who know through _lived experience_ exactly how dangerous Force power can be, and through this experience have the drive, _the will_ , to devote their lives to keeping the galaxy safe from it." Rey feels all eyes in the room on her, absolutely captivated, hanging on her every word.

"I'm here today to ask you to let them do that." She continues to gesture with her hands as she speaks, almost without thinking. She's starting to feel strangely at ease, surrendering herself to the moment. "Let them create a school devoted to training an elite team of knights charged with hunting down abusers of Force power and bringing them to justice. Let them be what I cannot be— _the fire and judgement of the New Age_. Dark warriors with an intrinsic desire to _stop_ those who would use the Force to hurt and destroy." Rey can't help her heartbeat from quickening with excitement when she sees several senators nodding their heads as she finishes speaking.

"Wait here now," a raspy voice from below suddenly interrupts. Rey looks down to observe an elderly man with frizzy grey hair and brown robes. "When you say these Knights will bring people to justice, what do you mean?"

"Remember that code I mentioned earlier?" Rey looks down at the man. "The code of ethics that all Force schools will share? The Knights will deal with the more serious violations of that code. They'll determine and execute the appropriate punishment. They'll operate from a maximum-security prison where those, like the Interloper, who've been deemed too dangerous will be locked away." Rey hears a scoff from above.

"And how exactly is a prison going to hold a man like the Interloper?" A tall, green-skinned woman with a narrow face sneers over her hoverdeck. "Can the man not simply enter the Knights' minds once more and set himself free?"

"No," Rey replies with a sharp turn of the head. "Not anymore. The Interloper won't be entering anyone's mind ever again." The green woman's head jerks back at the boldness of this statement. Rey looks out at the other senators.

"Just like the other schools," Rey begins, confident, clasping her hands in front of her, "the Knights will be founded upon a new Force ability. They will be the only ones who learn it. In fact, this ability was how the Interloper was captured in the first place." Several senators scoot to the edge of their seats.

"As it turns out," she continues, "the boy from my school in Cantonica who discovered a way to enhance one's connection to the Force can do the opposite as well. He can sever the connection entirely." Every senator in her view visibly reacts to this, eyebrows shooting up, heads rearing back, bodies leaning far over the hoverdecks.

"Is it permanent?" A disembodied voice calls out from far above.

"It will be," Rey answers, stepping back, looking up in search of the voice. "Once the boy fully develops the ability and teaches it to the Knights, they'll use it to varying degrees, temporary or permanent. But that will be up to their discretion." A pink-skinned Zeltron woman leans far over her hoverdeck above, nodding in approval down at Rey.

"Well this certainly changes things." Rey turns to face an elderly Cerean woman in purple robes walking to the edge of her deck. "I like this plan, girl." She cocks her head. "You have a code, you have enforcers, and you have a means to enforce the code. Best of all, the Senate won't be bothered with matters related to Force abuse. I only have one question for you." Rey nods her head towards the woman to continue. The senator looks up at the Knights kneeling at the top of the dome. Then she looks back to Rey.

"Why are they still wearing those damn masks?" The woman purses her lips wryly.

Rey looks down for a moment, then looks back up. "Senator, when you see that image, the menacing figure in that mask and black robes," she points up to the Knights, "what do you think of?" The Cerean woman scoffs.

"Kylo Ren," she answers caustically. "The Knights of Ren. Fear. Destruction. Terror. The whole galaxy in flames—"

" _Exactly_ ," Rey cuts her off. "That image represents the worst that can happen when someone powerful in the Force chooses to use that power to dominate everyone else. It's why the Knights chose it. It's why they still choose it. Because that image inspires fear. And from this day forward, it still will, only in a different way." Rey pauses and clasps her hands in front of her.

"The Knights," she starts again, "their mission, what they'll be doing… it's about much more than enforcement. It's about _deterrence_. It's about sending a message to every single Force-sensitive in the galaxy."

"And what message is that?" An Anlari man with a horned head looks up at her from below.

Rey looks down at him for a moment, then looks up and across the dome. "If any one of them _dares_ to use their power to harm, violate, or manipulate, the Knights will show up on their doorstep." Rey's tone darkens. "And trust me when I tell you—"

Suddenly, an electric crackle fills the expanse of the dome. All eyes look up to see one of the Knights now standing. He's tall with broad shoulders and a very distinctive lightsaber— fiery red with two flames jutting out on either side of the hilt.

" _No one_ will want that to happen," Rey finishes.

Whispers and murmurs rise across the dome. Several senators are standing, looking up at the Knight with the red lightsaber. He switches it off and resumes kneeling with a bowed head.

"It's time." The Supreme Chancellor stands behind Rey on the hoverdeck. Rey turns towards her and bows, then turns to take a place next to Finn, who nods at her confidently.

"You're really getting the hang of this, you know," he whispers in her ear. She looks over at him with nervous smile.

"We're not there yet," she mouths the words at him. His expression grows serious and they both face the front.

"The Senate will now vote on the following motion," The chancellor announces with authority. "To allow these Knights to establish a school devoted to teaching the ability to sever one's connection to the Force. That this school be allowed to operate in the galaxy under a code of ethics that will be designed and presented to you within the next six months. That this school be allowed to determine and execute punishment for violations of the code. And that its members remain anonymous to all but a special committee of the Senate which, should the motion pass, will be formed directly." The dome fills with a low rumble as the senators all review the tenants of the motion on the screens in front of them, consulting intently with one another.

Rey casts a glance of to the top of the dome. The Knights are still kneeling, perfectly still.

Time seems to stretch on infinitely. It's only a few minutes, but to Rey it feels like several lifetimes. Finally, she hears the rhythmic chimes— _bong, bong, bong_ — that indicate it's time for the senators to submit their votes.

Her heart seems to race right out of her chest. She feels Finn grab her hand and squeeze it. She squeezes back, still looking straight ahead, her body stiff with anxiety.

Another lifetime seems to pass…

"The votes are in." The chancellor declares abruptly, clasping her hands together and stepping forward. "By a two/thirds majority, it is the will of the New Republic Senate that the motion proposed by the Committee on the Management of Force Use shall be..." The chancellor pauses dramatically.

Rey closes her eyes and holds her breath.

"You're doing it wrong."

"Shut up, boy," Lohse commands, eyes closed. She's sitting cross-legged on the floor, her tangled mass of curls swept over her shoulder, one hand extended, hovering just over Anh-Li who sits directly in front of her. Lohse tries to seem relaxed, nonchalant, but she's clearly frustrated.

Jian sits to the side, one knee curled in his chest, watching both women intently. They're in a large room, rented living quarters with white floors and walls, sparsely furnished with a few couches and chairs, a kitchen unit attached to the right, a long hallway of bedrooms to the left.

Jian begins to grow impatient. He starts shaking his head.

"You're being way too intense about it," he says abruptly.

"I said _shut up_." Lohse visibly clenches her jaw. She takes a sharp inhale and holds it in. Then, she drops her hand and opens her eyes.

"You're thinking about Vikander," she announces decisively. "You're worried about him, still trapped in his worst nightmare and all that." Anh-Li slowly shakes her head no, expression neutral.

"Well…" Lohse starts again, "then you're thinking about Solomon. You're glad he's with us, that he's on board with this whole defenders of the galaxy business." Anh-Li shakes her head no again. Lohse exhales sharply, like she's pushing out fumes.

"Then you're thinking about your _new_ _best friend_ Rey, about her school, about all your little walks together on Cantonica." Lohse leans forward intently. Anh-Li shakes her head once more. Lohse groans and curses, uncrossing her legs, fighting against the black robes bunched at her feet.

Jian scrunches his face, still sitting on the floor next to them. He starts shaking his head in mild disapproval. "Ben's _really_ got his work cut out for him," the boy announces with a heavy sigh.

Lohse groans again, louder this time, and shoots to her feet, stomping to the other end of the room, kicking a chair out of her way as she does.

"I'm just saying, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to train you," Jian calls after her.

"Well that makes two of us because you are the _worst_ teacher." Lohse whips around, gesturing emphatically with her right hand. "Besides, none of it matters anyway," she continues in a defeated tone, turning to face the back wall, peering through the large window to the open deck where the rest of the Knights wait nervously. "We'll all be in prison by the end of the day for sure."

"No, we won't." Anh's head shoots up. "The Senate's going to approve. I have a feeling."

"Oh yeah?" Lohse grunts, turning towards Anh slyly, one hand on her hip. "You have a _feeling_ ," she says in a mocking tone, raising both hands in the air and wiggling her fingers. "You're not even Force-sensitive, so excuse me if I don't put a lot of stock into your _feelings_." She turns back to face the window again.

"You don't have to be Force-sensitive to have intuition," Anh retorts, still sitting on the floor.

"Don't worry." Jian scoots closer to her, his demeanor relaxed, chipper even. "You'll be Force-sensitive soon enough. I'll see to that," he assures her with pride in his voice. At this, Anh-Li's expression darkens and she looks down, suddenly lost in thought.

"Hey," Jian says softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him, guarded. "Don't be scared. It's your _destiny_." His face is bright with certainty. Anh smiles in spite of herself.

"Besides," he continues in an upbeat tone. "Ben says you're the most important member of the team." Immediately, Anh's head jerks back, surprised at this.

"Why would he say that?"

"Because," Jian declares matter-of-factly, "you're the only one that didn't just vote not to kill me but actually _defended_ me."

"Hey!" Lohse sounds offended as she calls from the end of the room, turning slightly towards them. "I didn't vote to kill you. I _abstained_." She says this as though it were an accomplishment.

"Thanks, Lohse," Jian replies dryly, not looking at her. Instead, he maintains his attention on Anh-Li beside him.

"So," the boy starts, scooting even closer to Anh, like he's about to tell her a secret. He lowers his voice. "How are you feeling about… you know…" his voice trails off for a moment, his face solemn. "About Ben," he finally continues at a whisper, "training under him considering… what he did." Anh-Li looks away for a moment, her eyes distant, as if lost in a memory.

"He's…" she begins thoughtfully. "He's shown that he's not the man he was. And…" She sighs heavily as her voice trails off. She stares down into space for a moment, then glances up at Jian. "My mother would have forgiven him." The boy gives her a half smile, eyes soft with admiration.

He leans towards her to speak again but stops abruptly, tilting his head as if listening for something in the distance.

"Lohse." He turns towards her.

She doesn't move, still from standing with crossed arms in front of the window.

"Get the others. Rey's coming."

She immediately twists towards him, wide-eyed, a bit stricken, then charges headstrong to the deck entrance.

Jian turns to Ahn-Li, whose face is calm but eyes wild with fear. He gives her a reassuring nod then rises swiftly with her.

Five black-clad Knights file into the room quickly, heads down, eyes furious with worry. The red-skinned Zeltron looks most nervous, visibly clenching and unclenching his fists. Ty and Mouse look like Lohse, young faces white with fear. Solomon, ironically, looks the calmest of the lot. The dark-skinned man strides forward, arms crossed lightly, the only one looking up, expression neutral, seeming as though he could easily accept either outcome.

Anh-Li stands with Jian closest to the entrance to the room, hands clasped in front of her, back straight, eyes forward. She takes a deep breath as the door whirs open.

Jer'ah ducks his head slightly to enter the room then straightens, squaring his broad shoulders, eyes their usual piercing red, telling nothing of the news he's brought with him. Ekemma follows, walking easily, hands at her side, relaxed demeanor seeming to give reason to hope.

But the real tell is Rey, who walks in with her face absolutely beaming, like a soldier returning home from war. Anh-Li exhales, not realizing she was holding her breath, and immediately runs to Rey, embracing her.

Finn follows Rey, eyes sparkling, eagerly looking for Jian as he walks into the room. The boy smiles as his dad approaches, looking happy but not surprised by the outcome.

The rest of the Knights let out a chorus of exhales and embrace one another, relieved yet charged with nervous energy.

"Alright, what's next?" Ty steps forward with a boyish confidence, eyes intent, alight with readiness. Jer'ah looks down at him dispassionately.

"We meet with the Senate committee," he answers in his deep voice. "Now. Come." He gestures towards the door. The young man's eyes widen, surprised with the immediacy of this answer.

"What for?" Solomon juts his chin up, his tone suspicious.

"To prove we're not murderous nut jobs, of course." Lohse begins striding to the door with a slight swagger. She stops halfway there and looks around the room, seeming confused.

"Is that not it?" She puts a hand on her hip.

"Something like that." Ekemma rolls her eyes as she answers, extending an arm towards Mouse and gesturing towards the door.

"Wait, where's Ben?" Anh-Li asks, turning towards Rey.

"Yeah," Lohse chimes in. "He's supposed to be out fearless leader, is he not? He should be with us."

Rey looks at Anh, opening her lips to answer but hesitates. She glances up to Jer'ah.

"He has business to attend to." Jer'ah looks down at Lohse then Anh-Li, crossing his arms. "And we both decided it was best if I present as our leader to the Senate."

"Well, isn't that nice for him," Lohse remarks under her breath, turning towards the door again.

Solomon grunts. "If the rumors about his temper were true…" He begins to follow Lohse, "then I'd say that's a wise decision."

"It's because someone could _recognize_ him." Ekemma sounds exasperated, as though she's explaining this to children. "There are a few in the galaxy who know his face." She walks to the door with Ty and Mouse.

The Knights begin to file out of the room one by one. Anh-Li is the last to exit. She turns around towards Rey just at the door.

"Are you not coming with us?" She asks expectantly, clearly assuming Rey would accompany them.

"No, not this time," she answers coolly, shaking her head. Anh's eyebrows knit in confusion.

"But shouldn't we go with a representative from your school, to show we're working together?" She steps towards Rey.

"Oh absolutely." Rey nods her head emphatically. "You definitely should. It's just not going to be me." She looks down at Jian next to her. It takes him a second to realize this. When he does, he jumps and his eyes widen with a flash of horror.

"Huh?" He gapes up at Rey.

"Weren't you the one so eager to fight the Interloper all by yourself?" Rey looks down at him with a glint in her eye. "A room full of senators should be nothing for you. Besides, once you take over the school, you'll be the one dealing the Senate. Better start learning now." The boy still gapes up at her, not quite sure if she's serious.

"Go on." Rey nods curtly towards Anh-Li at the door. Jian's eyes roll to Anh then back at Rey, trying to figure out if she's just playing with him. He doesn't move.

" _Jian_ ," Rey says gently but firmly, kneeling down next to him. "You're the one who's been begging me for more responsibility. Well, here you have it. Go to the meeting. Answer questions about what you can do. But most importantly," Rey brings her face closer, lowering her voice, eyes fixed on his. "Show them who you are." She gives him a deep nod of encouragement.

Jian nods back, determination registering on his face.

"Yeah," he says slowly, looking like he's talking himself into it. "Last week I was a warrior. This week I'm a politician. I can do that." He starts nodding his head more dramatically, as though the movement helps him conjure bravado. He turns and starts towards Anh-Li, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders, as if trying to seem taller.

Rey grunts softly as he goes, smiling to herself. Part of her still can't believe how powerful and brave he's becoming. He's so much stronger than she ever could have imagined. She turns to Finn and for just a moment, their eyes mirror one another, a look of pride mixed with gratitude. They're both pleased with the work they've done to shape this boy's life, and yet they both sense it's Jian's destiny to be the brightest star in the galaxy, regardless of anything they do. They're just happy to be part of his journey.

Rey lets out a satisfied sigh then turns away and begins looking around the room. Suddenly, her eyebrows knit and her head snaps towards the door.

"Jian!" Rey calls urgently. The boy turns back just outside. "Where's Irenie and Soya?"

"Oh." Jian says this like he'd forgotten about them. "Soya was annoying everyone, so Clea took them both to the springs." Rey scoffs and nods her head. She can see how an energetic six-year-old girl would be ill company for a nervous group of Knights. She turns her head towards Finn to share a knowing look with him but her face falls when she sees concern in his eyes.

"Are you sure…?" He starts tentatively, pointing to the door after his son.

"Go with him." She nods. "He's more likely to be himself if you're there, anyways." Finn assents to this readily, uncrossing his arms and heading swiftly towards the door.

As it whirs shut behind him, Rey's face softens and her shoulders visibly drop, as though shedding an invisible weight. She stares at the door for a few moments, not really seeing it, simply lost in her own thoughts, then turns absently to walk towards the bedrooms.

She needs to lie down. She needs stillness and silence, an opportunity to release the stress of this day, the tension that's been building inside her for a week.

It's not that she isn't overjoyed at the outcome. There are no words to describe the kind of satisfaction she feels. It's just that her body is weary from the emotional back and forth, the extremes of the past few hours, the past week, the past several weeks, if she's honest.

She's waited three years since Mustafar for Ben to accept their destiny together. Most of that time she's just patiently harbored a quiet faith in him, faith that events would play out exactly as they needed to. Then the gears were suddenly set in motion when Leia passed, and everything moved so quickly, so unpredictably. She's so happy to be here, at the end of it all, but weary from the unexpected twists and turns along the way.

Rey reaches the door to her and Ben's quarters, then presses a panel. It whirs open and she walks through, breaking from her thoughts long enough to feel a rush of excitement at the sight of a bed. She walks towards it immediately and sinks onto the mattress, leaning over to remover her shoes and overcoat then lying back to roll to her side and curl her knees into her chest. She lets out a long, satisfied sigh and closes her eyes.

She tries to clear her mind, to just focus on relaxing her body, giving in to the peace of silence, but her mind wanders in spite of herself, as though propelled by an unstoppable momentum.

She can't help it. It's been this way since Ben returned to Cantonica with a defeated Zax in tow. Her mind just can't stop reviewing the events of the past few weeks, analyzing them, reliving the shock and the joy of everything that lead her right here, to this moment.

She'd been so furious with him, waking up to find Jian missing from the school. _He wants to use an eleven-year-old boy to fight a psychopath?_ It was unconscionable.

But then she heard what happened. And when she saw him step off the ship with the Knights behind him… she understood what she'd seen in his mind the last time she saw him. The vision so similar to the one when she first touched Skywalker's lightsaber on Takodana. The figures in black robes and masks.

It was the image he built but in an entirely new context. It was his way of reckoning with his past, repurposing it to forge a new legacy, still one of destruction, but in a very different way.

Rey takes in a long, deep exhale, feeling the oxygen nourish her lungs. She holds in for a moment then sighs it out in a calm, even stream.

They've done it. They've finally found how they fit together.

She couldn't have possibly guessed that this is how it would happen, what it would look like. Yet it feels so natural. So right. For both of them.

Her mind instinctively drifts back to Achc-To, back to her very first lesson with Luke Skywalker. The memory is so vivid she might as well be there all over again.

Her eyes were closed. She felt the ocean breeze all around her. He told her to reach out, reach out with her feelings. And she did.

"What do you see?" He whispered.

"The island... Life. Death and decay... That feeds new life. Warmth. Cold. Peace. Violence."

"And between it all?"

" _Balance_."

Over time, she's grown to understand what she felt that day, what she always feels through the Force.

Tension. Between life and death. Creation and destruction. The instinct to grow and the instinct to kill.

She and Ben… They are the balance that maintains this tension. She will grow, create, nurture. And he will kill, in his own way, when necessary. They are the creative and destructive forces that will lead this galaxy into the future, that will build the foundation for a lasting balance.

Rey smiles to herself as she shifts on the bed, turning over to her other side, knees still curled into her body. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply once more. She continues to think, reviewing the events of the past few weeks and planning for the future. As she does, the smile slowly fades from her lips.

She and Ben have finally found their place together in this New Age, but this doesn't mean that everything is resolved. There's a lot of work to do, a lot to figure out.

Like establishing a home base for him and his New Knights. They'll need to secure funding to build it, and considering it will function as part training base, part maximum-security prison, that will be a challenge in and of itself.

Then they'll need to figure out where to build it.

And of course, they'll need to figure out what to do with Irenie and Soya.

This is what worries Rey the most. She hasn't brought it up to Ben yet because the past week has been such a whirlwind, so much to learn, to do, to prepare. And they had no idea whether or not the Senate would approve his plan at all. It just didn't seem like the right time.

But now, they'll need to talk about it.

Rey opens her eyes and scoots closer to the edge of the bed, gazing down at the floor below.

He's _definitely_ not giving up the girls. _Definitely_. Not with both of them calling him dad. And even before that, she knew that he'd begun to think of them has his own. She's known that since the day before Leia's funeral.

She remembers lying in bed with him that night after he tucked them in. He was feeling so overwhelmed by the shock of Leia's death. She casually suggested that she could arrange for someone else to foster the girls for a while.

He'd looked at her as though she were some sort of monster for even considering such a thing.

That's when she knew that Irenie and Soya were here to stay.

But… a maximum-security prison is no place for little girls. He can't raise them there. Wherever they decide to build the prison, the location is sure to be somewhere remote and it's time for the girls to have an opportunity to re-engage with people, be around kids their own age. They can't spend their days in a prison with adults undergoing intense martial and Force training.

They'll just have to stay with her on Cantonica. It's the only option that makes sense. They've already gotten comfortable there. They know Jian and have made friends with some of the other students. Clea will be there for a few more weeks to ease the transition.

The only problem with this plan is that the girls _do not_ listen to Rey _at all_. They don't think of her as their parent. Why would they? They've only seen her off and on since moving in with Ben. And they've seen him almost every day. He's the only authority they truly recognize.

 _Well, that will have to change._

Rey takes a deep, nervous breath.

She's not sure she's ready to be a parent. She definitely doesn't feel ready to do it on her own. She _needs_ Ben. But who knows where he'll be? And considering how much work he has to do with the Knights, how much time will he have to go off visiting her and the girls on another planet?

These questions have been eating at her. But they'll figure them out soon enough. Now that they have the Senate's approval under their belt, it's time to come up with a plan for all of this…

Rey continues to obsessively think over these things in her head, playing with various options, various versions of their future. She's not even aware of it when her consciousness begins to drift… drift away into a deep sleep…

She's awakened by a warm touch at her cheek. She stirs, drawn from her slumber by fingers gently caressing her skin. She opens her lids and is met by dark eyes gazing softly into hers. She gazes back sleepily, her lips slowly turning into a smile.

Ben kneels next to her at the side of the bed, continuing to brush her cheek with his thumb. His fingers slip into her hair, still tied in a loose bun for the Senate hearing. His lips descend towards hers and she closes her eyes again as they connect softly, one gentle kiss, followed by another, then another.

"Where were you?" Rey murmurs between kisses. He pulls back slightly, impatient, clearly more interested in focusing on her than answering questions.

"An errand," he replies dismissively as his fingers curl to the back of her neck, his thumb still at her cheek, pulling her lips towards his.

Normally, she'd be annoyed by his vague answer. But it's hard for her to concentrate on such things when he's being so distracting.

No, she can't think of much else right now except for his hand cupping the back of her head, the warmth of his thumb at her cheek, his lips on hers, kissing her, tenderly at first, then growing more passionate.

Their mouths open into one another, taking in each other hungrily, like indulging in a feast after a long famine.

Suddenly, his lips start to travel, kissing her cheek, making his way up the curve of her jaw until she feels a warm stream of breath at her ear.

"You did it," he whispers, lips tickling her skin. She immediately jerks back to catch his eyes.

" _We_ did it," she corrects him. He nods gently in assent before leaning in to capture her lips once more, resuming an endless chain of kisses.

She'd love nothing more than to just pull him on to the bed with her and melt into him right now, melt into his embrace, his warmth. But those gnawing questions at the back of her mind are starting to surface again…

"Ben," she murmurs between another kiss.

"Yes," he responds, lips travelling to her neck again.

"We need to talk."

"We are talking." His lips graze her ear briefly in response before he begins kissing the soft skin under it.

" _No_." Her tone is firm but she can't help smiling as she brings a hand to his shoulder to push him back, creating a little space between them. He sighs lightly, eyes impatient, as though she were keeping him from important business.

"Talk about what?" He asks as though he's ready to listen, but he's clearly still amorous, eager to get this over with and resume his progress.

"Irenie and Soya."

At this, his face instantly falls serious. He twitches his jaw and casts a glance to the side, resigning himself to the necessity of the conversation. He sighs heavily, then slips his fingers from the back of her head and rises to his feet. She pushes herself up from the mattress and swings her legs over the bed, looking up at him. He crosses his arms, looking down at her, waiting for her to begin. She takes a deep breath.

"I think the girls need to stay with me on Cantonica," she announces decisively. He narrows his eyes at her for a moment, then looks away and turns to walk to the opposite end of the room.

"Ben, it just makes sense," she continues, shifting on the bed towards him. "You're going to be operating out of a prison. They can't stay with you there. That's not the right place for him. Surely, you know that."

He sighs, his back to her, staring at the wall for a moment. Then she sees him start to nod his head.

"You're right," he says turning towards her. His looks decisive and unfazed.

Rey straightens a little, bringing her hands to her lap, surprised at how easily he agreed to this. He _loves_ those girls. _Loves_ them. She's seen how attached he's become to them and visa versa. It's strange that he would assent to being parted from them so readily.

"Ok," Rey looks down, trying to hide a pang of disappointment. "That's settled, then." She presses her lips together and wraps her arms around her body. She sits silently for a few seconds, eyes downcast.

"So…" she begins again tentatively. "The next thing we'll need to do is get funding to build the prison."

"That won't be necessary," he responds nonchalantly. Her head snaps up, eyebrows knit in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She demands. He purses his lips and turns to walk to the other side of the room.

"There's no need to build a new structure when the most state-of-the-art prison in the galaxy lies unused," he declares evenly.

"What?" Rey flits her head. Now she's really confused. Ben doesn't turn to face her but looks out the small window overlooking the bustling city.

"The First Order built a prison years ago, one of our more expensive projects," he starts, arms crossed, still staring out of the window. "It was secret. Even I never knew its exact location. That was the purpose of my errand today. To get the coordinates." Rey sits up, enlivened by this news, eager for him to continue.

Finally, he turns from the window to face her. "It was meant to detain diplomatic prisoners— senators, royalty, anyone we didn't want the New Republic to know we had in our possession." He maintains a neutral expression as he speaks. "But then we destroyed the New Republic… and we had no use for it anymore."

Rey listens quietly, impatient for him to continue. He begins to walk back to her side of the room.

"Several locations were considered before we built it. The structure needed to be somewhere remote. Beyond remote. It needed to be somewhere where there was no chance of finding it. For a while, the plan was to build it in a planet in the Unknown Regions…"

Rey finds herself focusing on her breath to calm her nerves. _Get to the point, Ben._

"But then we were contacted by a major player in the corporate sector. He was struggling to finish a project, a very ambitious one. He'd built a casino on a desert planet but needed funding to create the largest man-made ocean in the galaxy."

Suddenly, Rey shoots up from the bed, eyes wide.

"Wait a second," she begins, breathless with excitement. "Are you saying…" her heart starts pumping wildly in her chest, "this prison is on Cantonica?"

He turns his head towards her slyly. "We built it in the desert then covered it with an ocean."

Rey immediately squeals with delight, racing over to Ben and leaping into his arms. He catches her and holds her up easily, doing the galaxy's worst job at suppressing a smile as she wraps her arms and legs around him.

"Are you telling me…" she's so excited she can barely get the words out, "that we're going to be living on the same planet?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." He winks at her, clearly enjoying her reaction.

" _The very same one!?_ " She squeals again, feeling like's about to burst with joy.

"The very same one." He barely finishes his response before she kisses him passionately, deeply, squeezing her thighs into him like she never wants to let him go. He begins making his way over to the bed with her still latched onto him.

They collapse onto it awkwardly, Rey giggling as Ben crawls on top of her, pulling her up further. She wraps her legs around him again as his body envelops hers, encasing her in his warmth. He pins her forearms to the bed on either side of her as they open their mouths into one another once more, losing themselves in each other, in the passion of the moment.

He slides one hand down her arm, continuing along the curves of her body and she reaches up with her free hand to run her fingers through his hair. He stops at her waist, slipping his hand under her shirt, gripping her bare skin.

His lips begin to move from her mouth, kissing her cheek, her neck, her chest, as though he were trying to cover every inch of her. She giggles a little when his lips tickle the soft curve where her neck meets her shoulder. She tries to pull her other arm free, his hand still pinning it to the bed, but he won't let it budge. In fact, he grabs her other forearm and pins it back to the other side of her, rising enough to look her in the eyes, his face hovering just over hers.

For a few moments, they gaze into one another, breathing heavily, blood running hot through their veins. Suddenly, a strong, steady warmth rises in her core, that everlasting fire she feels every time he thinks about how much he loves her. The sensation of it is all the more intense because as she looks into his dark eyes, she feels the exact same thing in him, the depth of her own love reflecting back to her through the bond.

"Are you happy?" He asks her softly, eyes still locked on hers.

Rey takes a deep inhale, her body filling with a satisfaction the likes of which she's never known.

"I didn't know it was possible to be so happy," she whispers in response, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. He immediately descends to kiss her once more, releasing her arms, sliding both of his hands over her body as she embraces him, pulling him into her, legs still wrapped around him.

Suddenly, she pulls back a bit, fixing her eyes on his.

"Are _you_ happy?" She asks him in earnest. He grunts softly and brings his lips to her ear.

" _Rey_ ," his voice is low and full of emotion, "Regardless of what happened today, or three weeks ago, or three years ago, or what will happen tomorrow, or all the days after that…" he pauses to exhale heavily, "As long as you're mine, I'm happy. _Don't you know that?_ "

She squeezes her eyes shut and pulls him tightly to her, nuzzling her head against his.

Suddenly, she thrusts upwards and pushes him onto his back, straddling him and pinning his forearms to the bed. She smiles mischievously as she leans down to kiss him deeply, pressing her body to his, grinding against him. She feels his heart start to race as he grips at her hips, pulling her hard into him.

She begins to run her hands along his sides, stopping to slip them under his shirt. She starts to lift it, rising to pull it over his head and arms, revealing his bare chest. He looks up at her, mesmerized, breathing heavily as he watches her practically tear off her own shirt and descend upon him again hungrily, grinding against his groin, pressing her bare chest to his.

He sits up abruptly, wrapping a strong arm around her lower back, pulling her into him harder as they kiss passionately, her hands gripping his broad shoulders, thighs squeezing his body. They begin to sweat, the heat between them rising as they grasp and grab and pull, each trying to consume the other.

Rey pushes him down again and begins to kiss under his jaw, travelling on to his neck, then to his chest, her bare skin pressed against his, crawling progressively downward over his body.

Suddenly, she rises, tilting her head as though she heard something. She looks up at Ben. He heard it too.

" _Dad!?_ " Soya calls in the distance.

Rey's eyes immediately widen in panic. "Did you set the door to lock?"

Ben's gaze drifts to the ceiling as if trying to remember.

In an instant, she scrambles off him to the floor, desperately searching for her shirt.

"Dad?" Soya's voice is in the hallway now. Ben almost trips over her in a mad dash for the door. She finds her shirt just as she hears the door whir open.

"Dad!" The girl exclaims brightly. "Ew, why are you sweaty? Where is your shirt?" Rey pulls her own shirt over her head before she rises and turns.

"Uh… I was changing." Ben scratches the back of his head, blocking the doorway with his body. "Why don't you go in the main room and I'll meet you there soon, ok?"

"But I needed to ask you something really important!" Soya whines.

"It can wait a few minutes," he tells her, stepping into the hallway and ushering her a few steps down it.

" _No, it can't!_ " She insists. "I need to know now! Irenie says you won't be taking care of us anymore!"

"Whoa, what?" He crouches down before her instantly, his voice full of concern.

"Irenie says you're going away, going to train the people in the black robes. Is that true?" Rey steps closer to the door and sees that the girl's eyes are beginning to well with tears.

"Well," Ben hesitates to begin with, "That is true, but that doesn't mean I won't be taking care of you. It just means that we're moving."

"Moving where?"

"To Cantonica. To Rey's school." At this, Soya gasps and her eyes brighten

"Yes!" She exclaims. "That ocean is so much better! So, you're moving to Rey's school with us, right?"

"Partly," he answers honestly. "I won't be there all the time during the day, but I'll be there in the evenings and in the morning when you wake up." Soya cocks her head, as though considering whether or not to protest this. She soon shrugs her shoulders, apparently finding this arrangement acceptable.

Suddenly, the girl's eyes drift up to Rey standing not far behind Ben. When she catches her gaze, Soya immediately looks back down. She leans towards Ben, voice dropping to a whisper. Rey reaches out with her Force senses, curious.

"Does this mean I should start calling Rey mom?" She asks.

"Only if you want you," he replies in a low voice. He pauses to shift his head slightly to the right, as if to signal that he knows Rey is listening. Then he draws his face closer to Soya.

" _But make her work for it first_."

Rey immediately rolls her eyes to the ceiling, shaking her head as she hears the girl giggling in the hallway.

"Now, go," he tells her firmly. "Tell your sister she was wrong. I know how much you love that." At this, the girl's eyes widen, pleased at the opportunity. She turns and races back down the hall.

Ben sighs, shaking his head for a moment then stands and turns to Rey. She's glaring at him with crossed arms, half-teasing, half-serious.

"Make her work or it first?" She repeats in disbelief. He shrugs his shoulders, stepping towards her, a slight smirk on his face.

"Hey," he says, his hands slipping around her waist. "I took care of those girls for ten months before they started calling me dad." Rey smiles up at him, shaking her head and curling her fingers around the back of his head. She begins to draw his face down to hers as if to kiss him but stops just before their lips meet, eyes fixed on his.

"And yet _you're_ the one who forgot to lock the damn door." She raises her eyebrows.

"Ugh." He closes his eyes and rests his forehead to hers, irritated with himself for this mistake. Rey smiles and rises on her toes a bit to whisper in his ear.

"Later." She draws away and winks at him. He grunts softly and leans in to catch her lips with his for a lingering kiss. He pulls at her waist, bringing her body closer to him. Eventually, she begins to gently push him back. He finally releases her, though clearly reluctant, slipping his hands from her waist slowly.

Rey reaches for his hand. "Come on." She cocks her head towards the door.

"Let me get dressed first." He looks at her wryly.

She nods her head, a smile still tugging at her lips, then turns to exit and walk down the hallway. When she enters the main room. She sees Clea puttering around in the kitchen and the girls sitting on a couple of chairs not far from her.

"That's what dad said." Soya's in the midst of informing her older sister of the news.

"Are you sure?" Irenie asks doubtfully. Suddenly, she perks up when she notices Rey has entered the room.

"Hey Rey, are we moving to Cantonica with you?" She asks swinging around in her chair.

"Yes, you are," She answers smoothly as she glides over greet each of them with a side hug, then moves on Clea in the kitchen.

" _See!_ " She hears Soya insist smugly behind her. "You'd think you'd be happy about it since you have a crush on Jian."

"I do not have a crush on Jian!" Irenie protests in horror. Rey turns back to glance at the girl and notices her cheeks are scorching red. Clea and Rey briefly exchange a knowing look.

" _Whatever you sa-ay_ ," Soya returns in a sing-song voice.

Clea suppresses a smile and starts to turn away, but Rey puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," she says softly. "You've been with them all day. Go take a break." She nods her head to the bedrooms. Clea's eyes widen, clearly grateful at this opportunity. She mouths a "thank you" before turning to walk swiftly away, as though she's hurrying before Rey changes her mind.

Ben emerges from the hall almost as soon as Clea disappears down it.

" _Dad!_ "

The girls both immediately jump up and run over to him at once, pulling on his hands, talking up to him excitedly, pestering him with a million questions. They lead him to a seat in the center of the room, not bothering to give him any time to answer one question before they move on to another.

Rey brings a hand up to her lips, covering a chuckle, amused at the scene playing out before her. Irenie and Soya sit on the floor in front of Ben, still chattering incessantly. He's trying to make sense of the chaos, mediating between the questions.

Rey drops her hands and continues to watch, her expression slowly changing from amusement to a kind of awe.

Finding balance is a strange thing.

The idea of balance always seems to conjure images of equilibrium, creating a calm center in the midst of competing forces. But the strange thing is how creating that center often requires one to go through extremes. In fact, now that she thinks about it, finding balance feels a lot less like discovering a middle ground and a lot more like coming full circle.

She looks at Ben now, and she thinks about where he was five years ago. He was Kylo Ren, the terror in the black mask, one of the most feared men in the galaxy, a harbinger of destruction.

And now? Well… he's on the road to becoming that again. But not in the way he used to be. Because now, he's also a partner, a father, a mentor. These experiences, with her, with the girls, and now with the Knights, have transformed him into a different man.

Before, destruction was about power, domination, and control. It was about himself. Now when he dons the black mask and goes out into the galaxy to destroy, it won't be about him. It will be about everyone else. It will be about her, facilitating her vision for the future. It will be about Irenie and Soya, about their family, protecting them and others like them. It will be about the Knights, ensuring what happened to them won't happen again.

And for Rey? Five years ago, she was a scavenger living on a desert planet, spending her days finding and repairing broken things, creating things like her speeder out of junk.

Now… in a strange way, she's doing the same thing, only with people this time. The students at her school, all of the things they've endured, all of the things they've seen… they've come to her to be mended, to put themselves back together again and become something better, something stronger.

When Rey thinks about it, her journey mirrors Ben's. Just like destruction was once only about himself, creation was once only about herself, about her own survival. Now she creates to help others, help them not just survive but thrive. She creates to make a better life for people living on planets like Jakku, to bring them resources and care, but most of all to bring them the hope that their lives _can_ improve.

Her experiences with Ben, with the Resistance, with Jian and the slave rebellion… they all lead her right here, to learning how to take her instinct to create things and turn it outward, so that it serves others more than it serves herself.

Maybe this, at the end of things, is what finding balance is all about. It's about finding a way to be you are, who you can't help but be, to the benefit of everyone around you. And it's about finding a partner to help you become this, one who will enhance your strengths while also making up for your weaknesses. Yes, maybe this is it…

"Rey!"

She's suddenly jerked from her thoughts by the sound of Soya's voice. The girl's running over to her with wide, earnest eyes like she has the most urgent question. She barely stops herself before running into Rey, who crouches down before her.

"Can we have a voorpak on Cantonica?" The girl looks up to her, bright and expectant.

"A what?" She flits her head in confusion.

" _A voorpak_!" Soya repeats as though annoyed Rey doesn't already know. "They are the cutest things! We saw one with Clea today and it was sweet and fluffy and can I have one _pleeeaaase?!_ " She draws out the last word as though she's in agony, bobbing up and down where she stands.

"Uh… let's talk to Ben about it, ok?"

" _Ugh!_ " The girl rolls her eyes. "But he just said to ask _you_ about it."

Rey stops herself from rolling her own eyes. "Well, we're a family now, so we'll need to make these kinds of decisions together, with Irenie too, ok?"

Soya nods her head briskly. "Oh, Irenie wants one more than I do. Come here, she'll tell you."

She grabs Rey's hand and starts dragging her to the center of the room. Rey follows the girl with a smile and settles on the floor where Ben now sits with Irenie, listening to her chatter on excitedly all about voorpaks. He glances over at Rey briefly, grateful for reinforcements, then turns his attention back to Irenie. As she continues to prattle on, he reaches out to take Rey's hand and squeeze it.

Then the four of them sit in a circle on the floor, laughing, listening, and planning their future. Their future together. As a family.


End file.
